Mobile fulfillment centers with intermodal carriers and unmanned aerial vehicles

ABSTRACT

Intermodal vehicles may be loaded with items and an aerial vehicle, and directed to travel to areas where demand for the items is known or anticipated. The intermodal vehicles may be coupled to locomotives, container ships, road tractors or other vehicles, and equipped with systems for loading one or more items onto the aerial vehicle, and for launching or retrieving the aerial vehicle while the intermodal vehicles are in motion. The areas where the demand is known or anticipated may be identified on any basis, including but not limited to past histories of purchases or deliveries to such areas, or events that are scheduled to occur in such areas. Additionally, intermodal vehicles may be loaded with replacement parts and/or inspection equipment, and configured to conduct repairs, servicing operations or inspections on aerial vehicles within the intermodal vehicles, while the intermodal vehicles are in motion.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a division of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/460,971, filed Mar. 16, 2017, the contents of which are incorporatedby reference herein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

Online marketplaces enable customers to visit one or more network sitesfrom any corner of the globe, to view and evaluate items, and to placeorders for the purchase of such items over the Internet. Initially,orders for items that were placed at online marketplaces over theInternet were fulfilled at the original locations of vendors (ormanufacturers, merchants or other sources of the items), from which theitems would be shipped to customers via first-class mail or anothercommon carrier. Today, however, many online marketplaces operate inassociation with one or more fulfillment centers. A fulfillment centeris a facility, a warehouse or another like structure that is constructedin a distributed, centralized location and adapted to receive items fromsources of the items (e.g., vendors or other fulfillment centers).Fulfillment centers may include stations for receiving shipments ofitems, for storing such items, and/or for preparing such items fordelivery to customers. When an order for the purchase of one or moreitems stored in a fulfillment center is received from a customer, theordered items may be retrieved from spaces or areas in which such itemsare stored, and prepared for delivery to the customer, e.g., by packingthe ordered items into one or more appropriate containers with asufficient type and amount of dunnage, and delivering the containers toa destination designated by the customer.

Aerial vehicles such as airplanes or helicopters are commonly used totransport people or cargo from an origin to one or more destinations byair. Additionally, loading passengers or cargo onto an aerial vehicle atan origin, and unloading passengers or cargo from the aerial vehicle ata destination, typically requires the use and support of one or moremachines, buildings, facilities and/or structures, as well as theassistance of numerous personnel. For this reason, aerial vehiclestypically depart from and return to immovable facilities or structuressuch as airports, helipads, heliports, jetports or the like, which may,like fulfillment centers, occupy substantially large areas or includeone or more large buildings and connections to various transportationsystems. For example, Denver International Airport occupies a land areathat is more than twice the size of New York's Manhattan Island.

Moreover, performing planned or unplanned maintenance on an aerialvehicle requires the aerial vehicle to be taken out of service forextended durations. For example, depending on its size, or a length oftime since its most recent inspection, a typical inspection of an aerialvehicle may require tens or hundreds of man-hours in order to becompleted. Even where maintenance results in a determination that theintegrity of an aerial vehicle is sound, and that the aerial vehicle isoperating in a safe and satisfactory manner, or that the aerial vehiclerequires a simple repair, the aerial vehicle must still be taken out ofservice in order to arrive at that determination, or to complete therepair. Every hour in which an aerial vehicle is out-of-service is anhour in which the aerial vehicle is not providing value.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A through 1L are views of aspects of operation of one mobileintermodal delivery system in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are block diagrams of components of one system includinga mobile intermodal delivery system in accordance with embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of one process for operation of a mobileintermodal delivery system in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 4A through 4D are views of aspects of one mobile intermodaldelivery system in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 5A through 5C are views of components for use in mobile intermodaldelivery systems in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 is a view of aspects of one mobile intermodal delivery system inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of one process for operation of a mobileintermodal delivery system in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 8 is a view of aspects of operation of one mobile intermodaldelivery system in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are views of aspects of operation of mobile intermodaldelivery systems in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 10 is a view of aspects of operation of one mobile intermodaldelivery system in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of one process for operation of a mobileintermodal delivery system in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As is set forth in greater detail below, the present disclosure isdirected to the use of mobile intermodal delivery systems in combinationwith one or more aerial vehicles such as unmanned aerial vehicles (e.g.,“UAV”), or drones. In particular, some embodiments of the presentdisclosure are directed to the fulfillment of orders for items usingaerial vehicles that are launched from mobile intermodal carriers,including but not limited to intermodal carriers that are loaded ontowell cars or like cars that are pushed or pulled on rails bylocomotives, as well as intermodal carriers that are carried oncontainer ships traveling on waterways and/or tractor-trailers travelingon suitable roads (e.g., highways having sufficient vertical and lateralclearance). The intermodal carriers may be constructed in any manner,and from any materials. For example, in some embodiments, an intermodalcarrier may be formed from two or more prefabricated or preconstructedintermodal containers of standard dimensions or shapes that may bestacked atop or otherwise associated with one another.

Some other embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to theforward deployment of inventory to regions of predicted demand usingmobile intermodal carriers (e.g., carriers placed in motion bylocomotives, seagoing vessels and/or road vehicles) for delivery byUAVs. Some other embodiments of the present disclosure are also directedto mobile maintenance facilities within mobile intermodal carriers thatare configured to receive one or more UAVs that require maintenance,repairs or other servicing operations, and to automatically perform suchoperations within the intermodal carriers before launching the UAVstherefrom, thereby promptly restoring the UAVs to an operational statewithout requiring the UAV to return to a fixed structure or otherfacility for the performance of such operations.

Referring to FIGS. 1A through 1L, a mobile intermodal delivery system140 is shown. The mobile intermodal delivery system 140 includes apowered vehicle 145 (e.g., a locomotive) as well as an intermodalcarrier vehicle 150 and an intermodal maintenance vehicle 160 travelingon a set of rails 125. The intermodal carrier vehicle 150 is formed froma pair of intermodal containers 151A, 151B that are stacked atop oneanother and placed on a well car 143A that is coupled to the poweredvehicle 145. The intermodal container 151A, which is stacked atop theintermodal container 151B on the well car 143A, includes a pair of topdoors 154A, 154B that may be hingedly opened or closed to provide accessto the intermodal carrier vehicle 150 from above. The intermodalmaintenance vehicle 160 is also formed from a pair of intermodalcontainers 161A, 161B that are stacked atop one another and placed onthe well car 143B that is coupled to the powered vehicle 145 via theintermodal carrier vehicle 150. The intermodal container 161A, which isstacked atop the intermodal container 161B on the well car 143B, alsoincludes a pair of top doors 164A, 164B that may be hingedly opened orclosed to provide access to the intermodal maintenance vehicle 160 fromabove.

FIG. 1B is a cutaway view of the intermodal carrier vehicle 150. As isshown in FIG. 1B, the intermodal carrier vehicle 150 includes aplurality of items 10-n (e.g., consumer goods), an aerial vehicle launchand retrieval system 152, the doors 154A, 154B and an item engagementsystem 158. The launch and retrieval system 152 of FIG. 1B includes aconveyor having an aerial vehicle 170 thereon, and may be configured tolaunch the aerial vehicle 170 from the intermodal carrier vehicle 150when the doors 154A, 154B are opened, or to retrieve one or more aerialvehicles (not shown) therein. For example, the embodiment of the launchand retrieval system 152 shown in FIG. 1B may be configured to rotateabout a lateral axis to any desired degree, e.g., in order to place theconveyor at an incline or a decline angle, as well as about a verticalaxis, e.g., to place the conveyor at a predetermined orientation, forloading items onto the aerial vehicle 170 and/or for launching theaerial vehicle 170 therefrom. The item engagement system 158 comprisesone or more components (e.g., robotic arms or other like elements) forengaging items or materials, such as one or more of the items 10-n, andloading such items or materials onto the aerial vehicle 170.

FIG. 1C is a cutaway view of the intermodal maintenance vehicle 160,which features a construction similar to that of the intermodal carriervehicle 150. As is shown in FIG. 1C, the intermodal maintenance vehicle160 includes a plurality of spare parts 181-n, 184-n, 187-n, includingmotors (or other propulsion modules), batteries (or other powersources), and propellers of various sizes, shapes or othercharacteristics. The intermodal maintenance vehicle 160 further includesa launch and retrieval system 162 that may operate in a manner that issimilar to that of the launch and retrieval system 152 discussed abovewith regard to FIG. 1B, and a pair of doors 164A, 164B that may operatein a manner that is similar to that of the doors 154A, 154B discussedabove with regard to FIG. 1B. The intermodal maintenance vehicle 160also includes an item engagement system 168 that comprises one or morecomponents (e.g., robotic arms or other like elements) for engaging oneor more of the spare parts 181-n, 184-n, 187-n, such as one or more ofthe motors, batteries and/or propellers, and installing such spare parts181-n, 184-n, 187-n as replacements onto one or more aerial vehicleswithin the intermodal maintenance vehicle 160 (not shown).

As is shown in FIG. 1D, the mobile intermodal delivery system 140 may beconfigured to receive orders for deliveries of one or more of the items10-n within the intermodal carrier vehicle 150, as the mobile intermodaldelivery system 140 travels along the rails 125 in a predetermineddirection and at a selected speed, within the aerial vehicle 170 withinthe intermodal carrier vehicle 150, and to provide instructions to oneor more of the components therein for causing such items to be deliveredby the intermodal carrier vehicle 150. For example, as is shown in FIG.1D, a customer 120 may place an order for a specific item (viz., a boxof diapers) with an online marketplace or other electronic system over anetwork 190, and the order may be assigned to the mobile intermodaldelivery system 140 for fulfillment by one or more instructions receivedover the network 190.

After an order for an item has been received and assigned to theintermodal delivery system 140 for fulfillment, the ordered item may beloaded into the aerial vehicle 170 within the intermodal carrier vehicle150. As is shown in FIG. 1E and FIG. 1F, the item engagement system 158may retrieve the item 10-1 from storage within the intermodal carriervehicle 150, e.g., by automatically determining a position of the item10-1 among the items 10-n and gripping the item 10-1, e.g., by one ormore end effectors or mechanical grips. The item 10-1 may then betransported to a point where the item 10-1 may be loaded onto the aerialvehicle 170, which may itself be transported to the point by the launchand retrieval system 152.

Subsequently, as is shown in FIG. 1G, after the item engagement system158 has loaded the item 10-1 onto the aerial vehicle 170, the launch andretrieval system 152 may place the aerial vehicle 170 in an appropriateposition for launch. Alternatively, one or more preferred launchingconditions may be established within the intermodal carrier vehicle 150,such as by establishing a desired air velocity, a desired air pressureand/or a desired air temperature within the intermodal carrier vehicle150. As is shown in FIG. 1H, the launch and retrieval system 152 may bealigned in a desired orientation for launching the aerial vehicle 170therefrom. As is shown in FIG. 1I, after the top doors 154A, 154B haveopened, the aerial vehicle 170 may be launched from the launch andretrieval system 152 at a departure point P₁. The aerial vehicle 170 maybe launched under its own power or, alternatively, under power providedby the launch and retrieval system 152, or by a combination of theaerial vehicle 170 and the launch and retrieval system 152.

Upon clearing the intermodal carrier vehicle 150, the aerial vehicle 170may then travel on a desired course and speed to reach a locationdesignated by the customer 120 and to deposit the item 10-1 there. As isshown in FIG. 1J, the aerial vehicle 170 may travel on a course from thedeparture point P₁ on the rails 125 to the location of the customer 120,and deposit the item 10-1 there before meeting the mobile intermodaldelivery system 140 at a rendezvous point P₂ on the rails 125 at a latertime. The departure point P₁ and the rendezvous point P₂ may be selectedbased on the location of the customer 120, as well as any operational orlogistical factors, considerations or constraints (e.g., prevailingweather conditions, available power levels aboard the mobile intermodaldelivery system 140 or the aerial vehicle 170, as well as a requireddelivery date or time for the item 10-1, or for one or more of the items10-n that may have been ordered by other customers, or other traffic onthe rails 125). Additionally, the speed of the mobile intermodaldelivery system 140 prior to, while, or after launching the aerialvehicle 170 may also be selected based on the positions of the departurepoint P₁ and the rendezvous point P₂, or on any other operational orlogistical factors, considerations or constraints.

After the item 10-1 has been delivered to the customer 120, and afterthe aerial vehicle 170 has met the mobile intermodal delivery system 140at the rendezvous point P₂, the aerial vehicle 170 may be retrieved bythe intermodal carrier vehicle 150 or, as is shown in FIG. 1K, by theintermodal maintenance vehicle 160. For example, if the aerial vehicle170 requires replacement of one or more motors, propellers and/orbatteries, or any other maintenance, repairs or servicing operations,the doors 164A, 164B of the aerial vehicle 170 may be opened as themobile intermodal delivery system 140 travels along the tracks, and theaerial vehicle 170 may land within the intermodal maintenance vehicle160.

As is shown in FIG. 1L, with the aerial vehicle 170 within theintermodal maintenance vehicle 160, one of the batteries 184-n may beinstalled into the aerial vehicle 170 as a replacement. For example, theitem engagement system 168 may automatically determine a position of abattery 184-1 having an appropriate voltage level, power rating or otherlike attribute for use in the aerial vehicle 170, and transporting thebattery 184-1 to a point where the battery 184-1 may be installed in theaerial vehicle 170. After the battery 184-1 has been installed, and anytesting or verifications have been performed, the aerial vehicle 170 maythen remain within the intermodal maintenance vehicle 160 until themobile intermodal delivery system 140 reaches its destination, or maydepart from the intermodal maintenance vehicle 160, e.g., via the launchand retrieval system 162, and travel to one or more other locations, orto the intermodal carrier vehicle 150. For example, one or more of theremaining items 10-n may be loaded onto the aerial vehicle 170 anddelivered thereby to another customer (not shown).

Accordingly, the systems and methods of the present disclosure aredirected to mobile intermodal delivery systems that may transport aerialvehicles, and items to be delivered by such vehicles, along one or moremodes of transit. Such modes may include, but are not limited to,rail-based systems (e.g., railways) as well as sea-based systems(shipping routes or channels) or other ground-based systems (e.g.,interstate highways or other suitable roadways). The mobile intermodaldelivery systems may be formed from intermodal containers (e.g., astandardized structure originally intended for shipping or holdingitems), or from similarly sized structures and materials. In thisregard, a mobile intermodal delivery system of the present disclosuremay effectively act as a mobile fulfillment center that utilizes one ormore aerial vehicles for fulfilling orders for items, or a mobile repairfacility for conducting repairs on aerial vehicles, while remaining inlocation within one or more selected regions.

Additionally, one or more of the mobile intermodal delivery systemsdisclosed herein may include intermodal carrier vehicles, such as theintermodal carrier vehicle 150 of FIGS. 1A through 1L, that may beloaded with inventory items and one or more aerial vehicles, as well asautomated systems or components for loading items onto or unloadingitems from such aerial vehicles, e.g., loading and/or engagement systemscarried thereon. The intermodal carrier vehicles may be placed in motionvia one or more modes or transportation networks. Such intermodalcarrier vehicles may be configured to automatically launch and retrieveaerial vehicles therefrom, and automatically load items onto (orunloading items from) such aerial vehicles, by way of one or moreloading and/or engagement systems carried thereon.

Likewise, one or more of the mobile intermodal delivery systemsdisclosed herein may include intermodal maintenance vehicles, such asthe intermodal maintenance vehicle 160 of FIGS. 1A through 1L, which maybe loaded with replacement parts or other supplies or resources requiredin order to maintain an aerial vehicle in an operable and/or optimalcondition, as well as automated systems or components for installingsuch parts, supplies or resources onto an aerial vehicle. The intermodalmaintenance vehicles may be placed in motion via one or more modes ortransportation networks. Such intermodal maintenance vehicles may beconfigured to automatically launch and retrieve aerial vehiclestherefrom, and automatically load items onto (or unloading items from)such aerial vehicles, by way of one or more loading and/or engagementsystems carried thereon.

Although the intermodal carrier vehicle 150 and the intermodalmaintenance vehicle 160 of FIGS. 1A through 1L are shown as includingwell cars 143A, 143B that are coupled to the powered vehicle 145, thoseof ordinary skill in the pertinent arts will recognize that intermodalcarrier vehicles and/or intermodal maintenance vehicles, such as theintermodal carrier vehicle 150 and/or the intermodal maintenance vehicle160, may be coupled to any type or form of powered vehicle, e.g., acontainer ship and/or a tractor-trailer, and operated in a similarmanner on waterways or roads. Moreover, one or more of the intermodalcarrier vehicles and/or intermodal maintenance vehicles, such as theintermodal carrier vehicle 150 and/or the intermodal maintenance vehicle160, may be utilized in multiple transit modes. For example, referringagain to FIG. 1A, the intermodal carrier vehicle 150 may be transportedto a seaport, lifted from the well car 143A, and loaded onto a containership for transit on one or more bodies of water. Alternatively, theintermodal carrier vehicle 150 may be transported to a rail station,lifted from the well car 143A, and loaded onto a trailer, and hitched toa road tractor for further road-based transit.

Additionally, some embodiments of the mobile intermodal delivery systemsdisclosed herein may include both an intermodal carrier vehicle and anintermodal maintenance vehicle, such as the mobile intermodal deliverysystem 140 of FIGS. 1A through 1L. Some other embodiments of the mobileintermodal delivery systems disclosed herein may include an intermodalcarrier vehicle, or an intermodal maintenance vehicle, but not both anintermodal carrier vehicle and an intermodal maintenance vehicle. Stillother embodiments of the mobile intermodal delivery systems disclosedherein may include two or more intermodal carrier vehicles, such as twoor more of the intermodal carrier vehicles 150 of FIGS. 1A through 1L,and/or two or more intermodal maintenance vehicles, such as two or moreof the intermodal maintenance vehicles 160 of FIGS. 1A through 1L.Additionally, a mobile intermodal delivery system may include any numberof powered vehicles for placing one or more intermodal carrier vehiclesand/or intermodal maintenance vehicles in motion, e.g., two or morelocomotives, containers ships and/or road tractors. Moreover, a mobileintermodal delivery vehicle system may include a single combined vehiclethat includes carrier and maintenance systems, and is configured toperform the functions of both an intermodal carrier vehicle and anintermodal maintenance vehicle, or two or more of such combinedvehicles.

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, inventoryitems may be loaded onto mobile intermodal delivery systems (e.g., ontoone or more intermodal carrier vehicles) along with one or more aerialvehicles and placed in motion along a route associated with a transitmode (e.g., along a set of rails, along a shipping channel or along aninterstate highway or other roadway) in a direction associated withanticipated demand for one or more of the inventory items, even beforeany orders for any of the inventory items has been received. Forexample, in advance of a release of a new book, a new video game or anew mobile device, an intermodal carrier vehicle of the presentdisclosure may be loaded with a plurality of the books, the video gamesor the mobile devices along with one or more aerial vehicles and placedin motion along an axis or in a direction associated with theanticipated demand. In particular, if the inventory items have appeal ina particular geographic region, or if certain geographic regions havebeen observed to favor or prefer items that are similar to the inventoryitems in the past, a mobile intermodal delivery system may depart afulfillment center with an intermodal carrier vehicle loaded with aplurality of such items and one or more aerial vehicles, and may traveltoward such geographic regions. When orders for one or more of theinventory items are received, such orders may be assigned to theintermodal carrier vehicle, which may then load one or more of theinventory items onto an aerial vehicle and launch the aerial vehicle indirections of destinations for one or more of the ordered items. Afterthe ordered items have been delivered, the aerial vehicle may return tothe intermodal carrier vehicle in order to be reloaded and rerouted toanother destination, or to an intermodal maintenance vehicle formaintenance, repairs or service. Therefore, the intermodal carriervehicles of the present disclosure may be used to forward-deployinventory items from fulfillment centers or other sources of such itemsto regions where demand for such items may be reasonably anticipated, inorder to shorten both the time and the distance required in order todeliver such items to customers who placed orders for them, ordestinations specified by such customers.

Today's transportation networks feature a variety of multimodaltransportation systems, including various land, sea and air transitsystems, many of which were implemented in phases over time. Forexample, in the first half of the nineteenth century, several thousandmiles of canals such as the Erie Canal, which connected New York Cityand the Atlantic Ocean to Chicago and the Midwest by way of the HudsonRiver and the Great Lakes, were dug between various bodies of water,thereby expanding the capacity of water-based vessels to deliver goodsand services to more inland destinations and between seaports. Thesecond half of the nineteenth century was dominated by the growth ofrailroads and rail travel, as rail lines carrying locomotives and railcars snaked across the continent in the wake of the IndustrialRevolution, highlighted by the hammering of the Golden Spike atPromontory, Utah, which completed the first transcontinental rail linkbetween the east and west coasts of the United States.

In the twentieth century, Henry Ford's assembly lines began operating in1913, thereby enabling the low-cost, mass production of cars and trucksfor personal use. Automobiles continued to grow in popularity andefficiency with the advent of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway Systemin 1956, which permitted Americans to independently traverse the nationat elevated speeds on wide, structurally sound roadways and bridges.Finally, with the development of wide-body airliners such as the Boeing747 in 1969, and the deregulation of airlines in the United Statesbeginning in 1976, the delivery of passengers and cargo by air becameincreasingly efficient and cost-effective in the latter half of thetwentieth century.

Intermodal containers (sometimes called intermodal freight containers,dry vans, box containers, International Standards Organizationcontainers, or “ISO containers”) are some of the most common vessels fortransporting goods across the nation's transportation networks today.Intermodal containers may be easily transferred between rail-based,marine or roadway transportation systems, and may be fixed in place on atransport vehicle (e.g., a well car configured for travel on rails, acontainer ship, or a trailer). In some applications, intermodalcontainers may be stacked while in transit or in storage. By someestimates, more than twenty million intermodal containers are in usetoday.

One advantage of the use of intermodal containers is the relative easewith which such containers may be transferred between transit modes orcarriers (e.g., rail-based, marine or roadway transportation systems).For this reason, intermodal containers typically have standarddimensions including widths of approximately eight to eight-and-one-halffeet (8 to 8.5 ft) and lengths of twenty, forty, forty-five, forty-eightor fifty-three feet (20, 40, 45, 48 or 53 feet) and heights ofapproximately eight to ten feet (8 to 10 ft), typicallyeight-and-one-half or nine-and-one-half feet (8.5 or 9.5 ft). Thecarrying capacity of an intermodal carrier is often measured in anominal term known as Twenty-foot Equivalent Units, or “TEU,” whichrefer to a number of eight foot by eight foot by twenty foot (8 ft×8ft×20 ft) volumes that may be accommodated within a given intermodalcarrier. Intermodal containers are frequently constructed from steel andinclude steel frames and/or castings that are sufficiently durable andstrong enough to accommodate cargo within while still withstandingimpacts due to stacking, shocks or other contact during normaloperation, and to protect the cargo therein against the elements.Because intermodal containers are constructed with durability andstrength in mind, intermodal carriers have recently been repurposed intosecondary uses, including for use as temporary or permanent buildings,shelters, offices or the like.

As is discussed above, and in greater detail below, the systems andmethods of the present disclosure are directed to mobile intermodaldelivery systems having powered vehicles along with one or moreintermodal carrier vehicles and/or one or more intermodal maintenancevehicles. The powered vehicles may include locomotives coupled to one ormore well cars or like vehicles that are configured to travel on one ormore rails of any head sizes or shapes. Where a set of rails includestwo or more of such rails, the rails may be separated by any gaugedistance. Additionally, the locomotives may include one or more dieselengines, electric engines, or engines or motors that are powered by anyother source of energy (e.g., gasoline, fuel cells, nuclear reactors,solar power). The well cars or like vehicles may include one or morestructures, beams, trusses or other wheeled systems for accommodatingintermodal containers or vehicles in accordance with the presentdisclosure thereon. The mobile intermodal delivery systems may includeintermodal containers and/or intermodal vehicles for transporting items,launching and retrieving aerial vehicles, loading items onto orunloading items from aerial vehicles, or conducting maintenance, repairsor servicing operations on such aerial vehicles.

In some embodiments, a mobile intermodal delivery system may be used toforward-deploy inventory items, along with one or more aerial vehicles,to areas where demand for such inventory items may be reasonablyanticipated, thereby enabling orders for such items to be fulfilledusing such aerial vehicles from shorter distances and in shorter timesthan if the orders were received and assigned to fulfillment centers,warehouses or other fixed locations. Similarly, a mobile intermodaldelivery system may also be routed to areas having large numbers ofitems that are intended to be retrieved therefrom, and such items may beretrieved using one or more aerial vehicles. In this regard, the mobileintermodal delivery systems of the present disclosure may be used topick up items from one or more manufacturers, merchants, sellers and/orvendors or other sources for subsequent resale, or to retrieve unwanteditems from customers, as well as to perform any number of otherfunctions unrelated to electronic commerce, including but not limited tothe retrieval of garbage and/or recyclable waste.

The intermodal containers of the present disclosure may have any size,shape and/or dimension that may be utilized and/or supported by poweredvehicles and/or associated carriers (e.g., locomotives and/or well cars,container ships, tractors and/or trailers or the like), as well as anyassociated structures or systems (e.g., cranes, elevators, conveyors atfulfillment centers or other sources, or canals, channels, roadways,tunnels, bridges or other transportation infrastructure) that may berequired in order to accommodate their travel or use.

Areas where demand for items, or supplies of items, are anticipated maybe identified on any basis. In some embodiments, such areas may beidentified by resort to information or data regarding prior purchases ofitems by residents living in the respective areas, or prior deliveriesof items to residents of the respective areas, which may indicate thatsuch items, or substitutes for or complements to such items, are indemand in such areas. Likewise, such areas may also be identified basedon their similarities to other areas, and the demand for items orsupplies of items that were previously observed in such other areas. Forexample, when a particular area is experiencing a lengthy spell of goodweather, a national championship by a local sports team, a naturaldisaster, or other unique event, demand for items within the area may beidentified based on demand for items observed in other areas thatrecently experienced lengthy spells of good weather, nationalchampionships, natural disasters, or other such unique events.Furthermore, the areas of the anticipated demand and/or supplies may beidentified by determining information or data regarding demographics ofresidents in such areas, and identifying items that are in demand tomembers of such demographics, including not only members of suchdemographics who are residents of such areas but also other areas. Anymeans, methods or techniques for determining a level of demand or alevel of supply for a given item, on a local or regional basis, may beutilized in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.

The mobile intermodal delivery systems of the present disclosure may beused to distribute items on a local basis in any manner. For example,items may be loaded into and secured within intermodal carriers on ahomogenous basis, e.g., where an intermodal carrier includes a commontype of item, and no others. Alternatively, items may be loaded into andsecured within intermodal carriers on a heterogeneous basis, e.g., wherean intermodal carrier includes a variety of types of items. Items mayalso be loaded into and secured within mobile intermodal deliverysystems in storage compartments that are specifically tailored for suchitems, e.g., refrigerated or heated storage compartments withinintermodal carriers for maintaining cold or hot items therein, as wellas storage compartments that are generally provided for multiple typesof items. Alternatively, an intermodal carrier may include any number ofcompartments that are configured to maintain items therein at anydesired temperature (e.g., hot or cold).

Moreover, once items and aerial vehicles have been loaded into andsecured within one or more intermodal carriers, the intermodal carriersmay be delivered to selected regions by one or more powered vehiclesbased on the demand for the items maintained therein on any basis. Forexample, in some embodiments, intermodal carriers may be configured totravel from a fulfillment center or one or more locations on trains, oncontainer ships or on road vehicles, with such locations being selectedbased on known, observed or predicted demand for such items. In someother embodiments, intermodal carriers may be delivered singly or inbulk to such regions by one or more powered vehicles, which may bemanned or unmanned. For example, intermodal carriers that are loadedwith items and aerial vehicles may be delivered to regions where suchitems are known, observed or predicted to be in demand in or by one ormore powered vehicles that may be configured to travel in the air, or onland or sea, or within the physical universe beyond the Earth'satmosphere (e.g., outer space), such as cars, trucks, trailers, freightcars, container ships, cargo aircraft or spacecraft, or other likevehicles. Likewise, intermodal carriers may be retrieved from suchregions by one or more powered vehicles, and returned to a fulfillmentcenter or other facility, e.g., for loading, reloading or maintenance,as desired.

Referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, a block diagram of components of onesystem 200 including a mobile intermodal delivery system 240 inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Thesystem 200 includes a marketplace 210, a customer 220, a fulfillmentcenter 230, a mobile intermodal delivery system 240 and an aerialvehicle 270 that are connected to one another across a network 290,which may include the Internet in whole or in part. Except whereotherwise noted, reference numerals preceded by the number “2” in FIG.2A or FIG. 2B refer to elements that are similar to elements havingreference numerals preceded by the number “1” shown in FIGS. 1A through1L.

The marketplace 210 may be any entity or individual that wishes to makeitems from a variety of sources (e.g., manufacturers, merchants, sellersor vendors) available for download, purchase, rent, lease or borrowingby customers using a networked computer infrastructure, including one ormore physical computer servers 212 and data stores 214 (e.g., databases)for hosting a network site 216. The marketplace 210 may be physically orvirtually associated with one or more storage or distributionfacilities, such as the fulfillment center 230. The network site 216 maybe implemented using the one or more servers 212, which connect orotherwise communicate with the one or more data stores 214 as well asthe network 290, as indicated by line 218, through the sending andreceiving of digital data. Moreover, the data store 214 may include anytype of information regarding items that have been made available forsale through the marketplace 210, or ordered by customers, such as thecustomer 220, from the marketplace 210, or any information or dataregarding the delivery of such items to the customers by any means,including but not limited to the mobile intermodal delivery system 240and/or the aerial vehicle 270. For example, the servers 212 may beconfigured to make one or more determinations regarding regions or areaswhere one or more specific items are in demand based on information ordata stored in the data stores 214 or on one or more external computerdevices, e.g., over the network 290.

The servers 212, or one or more other computer devices, may determineactual or predicted demand for one or more items in any number ofregions or areas on any basis. Once demand in any given region or areahas been determined, the demand may be compared to one or morethresholds or limits to determine whether the demand is sufficientlygreat, on an actual or relative basis, in order to justify distributingor forward-deploying items to the given region by one or more mobileintermodal delivery systems. For example, in some embodiments, atotal-market prediction of demand may be determined by defining amarket, identifying drivers of demand in each of the markets, predictinghow such drivers may be anticipated to change, and localizing theeffects of such changes to a given region or location. In some otherembodiments, a prediction of local demand in a region or location may bedetermined based on prior sales of items in the region or location, anddetermining whether such sales are expected to increase, decrease orremain constant. For example, where a neighborhood includes a fixednumber of homes, demand for specific items (e.g., bicycles, smartphones,outdoor grills, basketballs) may be determined based on an analysis ofdemographics (e.g., residents who are of varying ages, genders,ethnicities or religions), within the neighborhood, as compared todemographics in the neighborhood in previous years, or demographics inother similarly situated neighborhoods. In some embodiments, the servers212, or the one or more other computer devices, may identify anyupcoming local, regional, national or global events, and project demandfor items pertaining to such events in a general manner, or in specificlocations or regions. The level of specificity or granularity associatedwith a projection may be selected on any basis. In other embodiments,demand for items in a given region may be determined based on locallaws, regulations or customs in effect within the region.

The fulfillment center 230 may be any facility that is adapted toreceive, store, process and/or distribute items. As is shown in FIG. 2A,the fulfillment center 230 includes a server 232, a data store 234, andone or more computer processors 236. The fulfillment center 230 alsoincludes stations for receiving, storing and distributing items tocustomers, including but not limited to a receiving station 231, astorage area 233 and a distribution station 235.

The server 232 and/or the processors 236 may operate one or more orderprocessing and/or communication systems and/or software applicationshaving one or more user interfaces, or communicate with one or moreother computing devices or machines that may be connected to the network290, as indicated by line 238, for transmitting or receiving informationin the form of digital or analog data, or for any other purpose. Forexample, the server 232 and/or the processors 236 may also operate orprovide access to one or more reporting systems for receiving ordisplaying information or data regarding orders for items received bythe marketplace 210, or deliveries made by any means, e.g., the mobileintermodal delivery system 240 and/or the aerial vehicle 270, and mayprovide one or more interfaces for receiving interactions (e.g., text,numeric entries or selections) from one or more operators, users,workers or other persons in response to such information or data. Theserver 232, the data store 234 and/or the processor 236 may be ageneral-purpose device or machine, or a dedicated device or machine thatfeatures any form of input and/or output peripherals such as scanners,readers, keyboards, keypads, touchscreens or like devices, and mayfurther operate or provide access to one or more engines for analyzingthe information or data regarding the workflow operations, or theinteractions received from the one or more operators, users, workers orpersons.

For example, the server 232 and/or the processors 236 may be configuredto determine an optimal path or route between two locations for theexecution of a given mission or task to be executed by the mobileintermodal delivery system 240 and/or the aerial vehicle 270 on anybasis, such as according to one or more traditional shortest path orshortest route algorithms such as Dijkstra's Algorithm, Bellman-FordAlgorithm, Floyd-Warshall Algorithm, Johnson's Algorithm or a hublabeling technique.

Additionally, the server 232 and/or the processors 236 may be configuredto control or direct, or to recommend or suggest, collaboration betweenor among one or more of the mobile intermodal delivery systems 240and/or the aerial vehicle 270 and any number of other vehicles in theperformance of one or more tasks or in the execution of one or morefunctions. For example, the server 232 and/or the processors 236 may beconfigured to identify levels of inventory distributed among one or moreof the mobile intermodal delivery systems 240 or aboard other vehiclesor in other locations, and to identify an optimal path to be traveled bythe mobile intermodal delivery systems 240 and/or one or more aerialvehicles 270 in delivering such items to a customer or otherdestination. Moreover, the server 232 may be configured to provide oneor more aerial vehicles 270 with one or more sets of instructions fortraveling from an origin to a destination, or from the destination tothe origin, or for performing any task in accordance with the presentdisclosure.

Additionally, the server 232 and/or the processor 236 may determinewhich of the mobile intermodal delivery systems 240 and/or aerialvehicles 270 is appropriately equipped to deliver one or more items to alocation or to retrieve one or more items therefrom on any basis,including but not limited to their respective proximity to the locationand/or a departure point on one or more modes or networks or arendezvous point on one or more such modes or networks, e.g., the pointsP₁ and P₂ shown in FIG. 1G, as compared to those of other mobileintermodal delivery systems 240 and/or aerial vehicles 270, or on anyother relevant factor or basis. The server 232 and/or the processor 236may select the appropriate departure points and/or rendezvous pointswhere one or more mobile intermodal delivery systems 240 and/or aerialvehicles 270 may meet in order transfer inventory or materialstherebetween, or for any other purpose. The departure points and/or therendezvous points may be selected on any basis, including but notlimited to a net cost, a net distance or a net time required for a givenmobile intermodal delivery system 240 and/or a given aerial vehicle 270to execute a given task, or on any other basis.

The receiving station 231 may include any apparatuses that may berequired in order to receive shipments of items at the fulfillmentcenter 230 from one or more sources and/or through one or more channels,including but not limited to docks, lifts, cranes, jacks, belts or otherconveying apparatuses for obtaining items and/or shipments of items fromcarriers such as cars, trucks, trailers, freight cars, container shipsor cargo aircraft (e.g., manned aircraft or unmanned aircraft, such asdrones), as well as one or more of the mobile intermodal deliverysystems 240 and/or aerial vehicles 270, and preparing such items forstorage or distribution to customers. The storage area 233 may includeone or more predefined two-dimensional or three-dimensional spaces foraccommodating items and/or containers of such items, such as aisles,rows, bays, shelves, slots, bins, racks, tiers, bars, hooks, cubbies orother like storage means, or any other appropriate regions or stations.The distribution station 235 may include one or more regions or stationswhere items that have been retrieved from a designated storage area maybe evaluated, prepared and packed for delivery from the fulfillmentcenter 230 to locations or destinations specified by customers, e.g., byway of one or more of the mobile intermodal delivery systems 240 and/oraerial vehicles 270, or any other vehicle of any type, e.g., cars,trucks, trailers, freight cars, container ships or cargo aircraft (e.g.,manned aircraft or unmanned aircraft, such as drones). Such locations ordestinations may include, but are not limited to, facilities havingspecific addresses or other geocoded identifiers (e.g., dwellings orbusinesses), as well as storage lockers or other temporary storage orreceiving facilities. Those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art willrecognize that shipments of items arriving at the receiving station 231may be processed, and the items placed into storage within the storageareas 233 or, alternatively, transferred directly to the distributionstation 235, or “cross-docked,” for prompt delivery to one or morecustomers.

The fulfillment center 230 may further include one or more controlsystems that may generate instructions for conducting operations at oneor more of the receiving station 231, the storage area 233 or thedistribution station 235. Such control systems may be associated withthe server 232, the data store 234 and/or the processor 236, or with oneor more other computing devices or machines, and may communicate withthe receiving station 231, the storage area 233 or the distributionstation 235 within the fulfillment center 230 by any known wired orwireless means, or with the marketplace 210, the customer 220 or one ormore of the mobile intermodal delivery systems 240 and/or aerialvehicles 270 over the network 290, as indicated by line 238, through thesending and receiving of digital data.

Additionally, the fulfillment center 230 may include one or more systemsor devices (not shown in FIG. 2A or FIG. 2B) for determining locationsof one or more elements therein, such as cameras or other imagerecording devices. Furthermore, the fulfillment center 230 may alsoinclude one or more workers or staff members (not shown in FIG. 2A orFIG. 2B), who may handle or transport items within the fulfillmentcenter 230. Such workers may operate one or more computing devices ormachines for registering the receipt, retrieval, transportation orstorage of items within the fulfillment center, or a general-purposedevice such a personal digital assistant, a digital media player, asmartphone, a tablet computer, a desktop computer or a laptop computer,and may include any form of input and/or output peripherals such asscanners, readers, keyboards, keypads, touchscreens or like devices.

The customer 220 may be any entity or individual that wishes todownload, purchase, rent, lease, borrow or otherwise obtain items (whichmay include goods, products, services or information of any type orform) from the marketplace 210, e.g., for delivery by one or more of themobile intermodal delivery systems 240 and/or aerial vehicles 270. Thecustomer 220 may utilize one or more computing devices 222 (e.g., asmartphone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, orcomputing devices provided in wristwatches, televisions, set-top boxes,automobiles or any other appliances or machines), or any other likemachine, that may operate or access one or more software applications224, such as a web browser or a shopping application, and may beconnected to or otherwise communicate with the marketplace 210, thefulfillment center 230, or one or more of the mobile intermodal deliverysystems 240 and/or aerial vehicles 270 through the network 290, asindicated by line 228, by the transmission and receipt of digital data.

The mobile intermodal delivery system 240 may be any self-powered systemfor transporting and/or receiving items via aerial vehicles, forperforming maintenance, repairs or servicing operations on such aerialvehicles, or for forward-deploying items for delivery by such aerialvehicles in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presentdisclosure. As is shown in FIG. 2A, the mobile intermodal deliverysystem 240 includes a networked computer infrastructure, including oneor more physical computer processors 242, transceivers 244 and/or datastores (e.g., data bases and/or other memory components) 246 that mayconnect or otherwise communicate with one or more external computerdevices over the network 290, as indicated by line 248, by thetransmission and/or receipt of information or data in the form ofdigital or analog data, or for any other purpose. For example, themobile intermodal delivery system 240 may receive instructions or otherinformation or data via the transceiver 244 regarding an item that is tobe delivered from the intermodal carrier vehicle 250 to the customer 220from the marketplace server 212, the customer computing device 222and/or the fulfillment center server 232, or from any other computingdevice over the network 290. The transceiver 244 may be configured toenable the mobile intermodal delivery system 240 to communicate throughone or more wired or wireless means, e.g., wired technologies such asUniversal Serial Bus (or “USB”) or fiber optic cable, or standardwireless protocols such as Bluetooth® or any Wireless Fidelity (or“Wi-Fi”) protocol, such as over the network 290 or directly.

The transceiver 244 may further include or be in communication with oneor more input/output (or “I/O”) interfaces, network interfaces and/orinput/output devices, and may be configured to allow information or datato be exchanged between one or more of the components of the mobileintermodal delivery system 240 or to one or more other computer devicesor systems (e.g., other aerial vehicles, not shown) via the network 290.For example, in some embodiments, the transceiver 244 may be configuredto coordinate I/O traffic between the processor 242 and one or moreonboard or external computer devices or components. The transceiver 244may perform any necessary protocol, timing or other data transformationsin order to convert data signals from a first format suitable for use byone component into a second format suitable for use by anothercomponent. In some embodiments, the transceiver 244 may include supportfor devices attached through various types of peripheral buses, e.g.,variants of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard orthe Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard. In some other embodiments,functions of the transceiver 244 may be split into two or more separatecomponents, or incorporated directly into the processor 242 and/or thedata stores 246.

Additionally, the mobile intermodal delivery system 240 may furtherinclude one or more powered vehicles 245 as well as one or moreintermodal carrier vehicles 250 and/or one or more intermodalmaintenance vehicles 260, which may be coupled directly or indirectly tothe one or more powered vehicles 245. In some embodiments, the poweredvehicles 245 may be any type of train and/or locomotive (e.g., lightrail trains, heavy rail trains, high-speed trains, maglev trains), anytype of seagoing vessel (e.g., container ships and/or cargo ships), anytype of road vehicle (e.g., cars, trucks, tractors and/or trailers, orthe like), as well as vehicles configured for travel via other forms ormodes of transit (e.g., hyperloop systems having low-pressure or vacuumtubes and capsules transported therein) powered by any type or form ofpower source and/or prime mover. For example, the powered vehicle 245may receive power by any manner and in any form, including but notlimited to alternating current (AC) electric power, direct current (DC)electric power, solar power, geothermal power, wind power, nuclearpower, fuel cells or any form of petroleum-based power, e.g., gasoline,diesel fuel, natural gas and/or propane.

The intermodal carrier vehicle 250 may be any vehicle or vesselconfigured to carry one or more items and/or aerial vehicles that may bereleasably coupled to the powered vehicle 245 and/or to one or more ofthe intermodal maintenance vehicles 260, and configured to launch and/orretrieve aerial vehicles while in transit. As is shown in FIG. 2A, theintermodal carrier vehicle 250 includes one or more launch and retrievalmechanisms 252, one or more doors 254 or other access points, one ormore sensors 255, one or more environmental controls 256 and one or moreitem engagement systems 258.

The launch and retrieval mechanisms 252 may include one or moreelevators, pulleys, lifts, catapults or other components for raising,lowering and/or rotating the aerial vehicles 270 or for otherwiseplacing the aerial vehicles 270 in a desired position and/or orientationwithin a compartment defined by the intermodal carrier vehicle 250.Additionally, the launch and retrieval mechanisms 252 may include one ormore conveyors for causing the aerial vehicles 270 to travel in one ormore directions thereon, or for guiding one or more items into a payloadcompartment or other aspect of the aerial vehicles 270.

The doors 254 are any motorized systems that may be automatically openedand/or closed to provide or restrict access to a compartment defined bythe intermodal carrier vehicle 250. The doors 254 may include any numberof manual or automatic features for causing the opening or closingthereof, and may have any suitable dimensions with respect to thedimensions of the compartment. The doors 254 are preferably disposed onan upper surface (e.g., a roof and/or ceiling of the compartment) of theintermodal carrier vehicle 250 but may, in some embodiments, be disposedon front, rear, side or lower surfaces of the intermodal carrier vehicle250. In some embodiments, the doors 254 may be rotatably connected toone or more aspects of the intermodal carrier vehicle 250 by a pair ofhinges. In other embodiments, the doors 254 may take the form of one ormore slidable or rollable (e.g., roll-top, roll-up or roll-back) doorshaving one or more shafts, bearings, adaptor rings, guide rails and/orslats for guiding the doors 254 during opening and/or closingoperations. For example, in some embodiments, the intermodal carriervehicle 250 may include a single door 254 that is configured to open ina single direction, e.g., by sliding, swinging or translating from leftto right, from right to left, from forward aft or from aft forward. Inother embodiments, the intermodal carrier vehicle 250 may include two ormore doors 254 that may open in a split fashion, i.e., with a first door254 sliding, swinging or translating in one direction from anintersection point and a second door 254 sliding, swinging ortranslating in an opposite direction from the intersection point.

The sensors 255 may include one or more position sensors (e.g., GlobalPositioning Satellite system receivers, accelerometers, compasses,gyroscopes, altimeters), imaging devices (e.g., digital cameras, depthsensors, range cameras, infrared cameras, radiographic cameras or otheroptical sensors), speedometers (e.g., anemometers), thermometers,barometers, hygrometers, air monitoring sensors (e.g., oxygen, ozone,hydrogen, carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide sensors), infrared sensors,ozone monitors, pH sensors, magnetic anomaly detectors, metal detectors,radiation sensors (e.g., Geiger counters, neutron detectors, alphadetectors), attitude indicators, depth gauges or sound sensors (e.g.,microphones, piezoelectric sensors, vibration sensors or othertransducers for detecting and recording acoustic energy from one or moredirections). The sensors 255 may include any number of memory or storagecomponents and processors, photosensitive surfaces, filters, chips,electrodes, clocks, boards, timers or any other relevant features (notshown) for aiding in their operation.

For example, one or more of the sensors 255 may be an imaging deviceincluding any form of optical recording sensor or device (e.g., digitalcameras, depth sensors or range cameras, infrared cameras, radiographiccameras or other optical sensors) that may be configured to photographor otherwise capture visual information or data (e.g., still or movingimages in color or black and white that may be captured at any framerates, or depth imaging data such as ranges), or associated audioinformation or data, or metadata, regarding objects or activitiesoccurring within a vicinity of the intermodal carrier vehicle 250, orfor any other purpose. For example, a sensor 255 may be configured tocapture or detect reflected light if the reflected light is within afield of view of the sensor 255, which is defined as a function of adistance between an imaging sensor and a lens within the sensor 255,viz., a focal length, as well as a location of the sensor 255 and anangular orientation of the lens. Accordingly, where an object appearswithin a depth of field, or a distance within the field of view wherethe clarity and focus is sufficiently sharp, the sensor 255 may capturelight that is reflected off objects of any kind to a sufficiently highdegree of resolution using one or more sensors thereof, and storeinformation regarding the reflected light in one or more data files.

The sensors 255 may also include manual or automatic features formodifying a field of view or orientation. For example, one or more ofthe sensors 255 may be a digital camera configured in a fixed position,or with a fixed focal length (e.g., fixed-focus lenses) or angularorientation. Alternatively, one or more of the sensors 255 may includeone or more actuated or motorized features for adjusting a position of asensor 255, or for adjusting either the focal length (e.g., zooming theimaging device) or the angular orientation (e.g., the roll angle, thepitch angle or the yaw angle), by causing a change in the distancebetween the imaging sensor and the lens (e.g., optical zoom lenses ordigital zoom lenses), a change in the location of the sensor 255, or achange in one or more of the angles defining the angular orientation ofthe sensor 255.

For example, one or more of the sensors 255 may be an imaging devicethat is hard-mounted to a support or mounting that maintains the imagingdevice in a fixed configuration or angle with respect to one, two orthree axes. Alternatively, however, a sensor 255 may be provided withone or more motors and/or controllers for manually or automaticallyoperating one or more of the components, or for reorienting the axis ordirection of the sensor 255, i.e., by panning or tilting the sensor 255.Panning the sensor 255 may cause a rotation within a horizontal plane orabout a vertical axis (e.g., a yaw), while tilting the sensor 255 maycause a rotation within a vertical plane or about a horizontal axis(e.g., a pitch). Additionally, the sensor 255 may be rolled, or rotatedabout its axis of rotation, and within a plane that is perpendicular tothe axis of rotation and substantially parallel to a field of view ofthe sensor 255.

In some embodiments, imaging data (e.g., still or moving images, as wellas associated audio data or metadata) captured using the sensor 255 maybe processed according to any number of recognition techniques. In someembodiments, edges, contours, outlines, colors, textures, silhouettes,shapes or other characteristics of objects, or portions of objects,expressed in still or moving digital images may be identified using oneor more algorithms or machine-learning tools. The objects or portions ofobjects may be stationary or in motion, and may be identified at single,finite periods of time, or over one or more periods or durations. Suchalgorithms or tools may be directed to recognizing and markingtransitions (e.g., the edges, contours, outlines, colors, textures,silhouettes, shapes or other characteristics of objects or portionsthereof) within the digital images as closely as possible, and in amanner that minimizes noise and disruptions, and does not create falsetransitions. Some detection algorithms or techniques that may beutilized in order to recognize characteristics of objects or portionsthereof in digital images in accordance with the present disclosureinclude, but are not limited to, Canny edge detectors or algorithms;Sobel operators, algorithms or filters; Kayyali operators; Roberts edgedetection algorithms; Prewitt operators; Frei-Chen methods; or any otheralgorithms or techniques that may be known to those of ordinary skill inthe pertinent arts.

The sensors 255 may further include one or more compasses, speedometers,altimeters, thermometers, barometers, hygrometers, gyroscopes, airmonitoring sensors (e.g., oxygen, ozone, hydrogen, carbon monoxide orcarbon dioxide sensors), ozone monitors, pH sensors, magnetic anomalydetectors, metal detectors, radiation sensors (e.g., Geiger counters,neutron detectors, alpha detectors), accelerometers, ranging sensors(e.g., radar or LIDAR ranging sensors) or sound sensors (e.g.,microphones, piezoelectric sensors, vibration sensors or othertransducers for detecting and recording acoustic energy from one or moredirections).

One or more of the sensors 255 may also be an item identification sensorand may include a bar code scanner, a radiofrequency identification (orRFID) reader, or other technology that is utilized to determine anidentification of an item that is being retrieved or deposited, or hasbeen retrieved or deposited, by the aerial vehicle 270. In someembodiments, the sensor 255 may be a presence detection sensor and/or amotion sensor for detecting the presence or absence of one or moreobjects within the intermodal carrier vehicle 250, or movement ofobjects therein.

One or more of the sensors 255 may be further configured to capture,record and/or analyze information or data regarding its positions,velocities, accelerations or orientations of the intermodal carriervehicle 250, and to analyze such data or information by one or moremeans, e.g., by aggregating or summing such data or information to formone or more qualitative or quantitative metrics of the movement of thesensor 255 and/or the intermodal carrier vehicle 250. For example, a netvector indicative of any and all relevant movements of the intermodalcarrier vehicle 250, including but not limited to physical positions,velocities, accelerations or orientations of the intermodal carriervehicle 250, may be derived based on information or data captured by thesensor 255. Additionally, coefficients or scalars indicative of therelative movements of the intermodal carrier vehicle 250 may also bedefined based on such information or data.

The environmental controls 256 may include one or more ducts, vents,intakes or outlets that enable air flow to enter the compartment definedby the intermodal carrier vehicle 250, to travel therethrough at desiredvelocities and/or pressures, and/or to exit from the compartment definedby the intermodal carrier vehicle 250. For example, the environmentalcontrols 256 may include one or more intake ducts and/or valves or othersystems of any size or shape and having any dimensions, as required.Such intake ducts may be formed as one or more fairings in an externalsurface of the intermodal carrier vehicle 250, e.g., the same width asthe intermodal carrier vehicle 250 or a larger or smaller width.Likewise, the environmental controls 256 may include one or more outletsor outlet ducts and/or valves or other systems of any size or shape andhaving any dimensions, as required. The environmental controls 256 mayinclude one or more air openings or channels extending to an exterior ofthe intermodal carrier vehicle 250, and may include one or moresub-openings or sub-channels in parallel. Additionally, theenvironmental controls 256 may be aligned coaxially with the intermodalcarrier vehicle 250, or parallel to an axis of the intermodal carriervehicle 250. Alternatively, the environmental controls 256 may bealigned at another angle with respect to the intermodal carrier vehicle250. Moreover, the environmental controls 256 may be any type ofmanually or automatically operable opening, e.g., a louver, a flap orany other type of valve that may be controlled (e.g., opened, closed orthrottled) in order to cause or alter a flow of air passingtherethrough. The environmental controls 256 may include one or moreexpansion sections for diffusing air, as well as one or more sets ofscreens, filters or traps which cause any debris or unwanted materialsto fall out of the airflow and into a tank or other holding system. Theenvironmental controls 256 may further include any number of heaters,chillers, humidifiers, dehumidifiers or any other systems for achievinga desired environmental condition (e.g., temperature, humidity) withinthe compartment defined by the intermodal carrier vehicle 250.

The engagement systems 258 may be any mechanical components, e.g.,robotic arms, cable robots or other systems, for engaging an item withinthe intermodal carrier vehicle 250, for disengaging the item, or forloading the item into the aerial vehicles 270, as desired. For example,when the aerial vehicles 270 is tasked with delivering items ormaterials from a departure point of the mobile intermodal deliverysystem 240 to a destination, the engagement system 258 may be used toengage the items or materials within the compartment of the intermodalcarrier vehicle 250 and to deposit the items or materials in a cargo bayor other storage compartment of the aerial vehicles 270 prior todeparting. After an aerial vehicle 270 has arrived at the destinationand returned to the intermodal carrier vehicle 250, the engagementsystem 258 may load another item into the cargo bay or other storagecompartment of the aerial vehicles 270. Conversely, the engagementsystem 258 may also be used to retrieve items or materials from a cargobay or storage compartment of an aerial vehicle 270, and deposit theitems or materials in a desired location at of the compartment definedby the intermodal carrier vehicle 250. The engagement systems 258 mayinclude any number of controllers, arms, end effectors, drive systemsand/or sensors for identifying locations of one or more items within theintermodal carrier vehicle 250, engaging one or more of the items atsuch locations, delivering such items to the aerial vehicles 270 oranother location within the intermodal carrier vehicle 250, anddepositing or installing such items within the aerial vehicles 270either directly or by way of one or more conveyors or other systems.

In some embodiments, the intermodal carrier vehicle 250 may be formedfrom one or more intermodal containers, e.g., steel structural vesselshaving standard sizes and/or shapes, by way of repurposing orreconstructing such intermodal containers in order to install the launchand retrieval mechanisms 252, the doors 254, the sensors 255, theenvironmental controls 256 and/or the item engagement systems 258therein. The intermodal carrier vehicle 250 may also include any numberof computer processors, data stores, memory components or communicationsequipment for controlling the operation of the launch and retrievalmechanism 252, the doors 254, the sensors 255, the environmentalcontrols 256 and/or the engagement system 258, or for receivinginstructions for the operation thereof.

The intermodal maintenance vehicle 260 may be any vehicle or vessel thatmay be releasably coupled to the powered vehicle 245 and/or to one ormore of the intermodal carrier vehicles 250, and configured to launchand/or retrieve aerial vehicles while in transit. In particular, theintermodal maintenance vehicle 260 may receive an aerial vehicle 270within a compartment and execute one or more maintenance, repairs orservicing operations on the aerial vehicle 270 within the compartmentbefore launching the aerial vehicle 270 therefrom. As is shown in FIG.2A, the intermodal maintenance vehicle 260 includes one or more launchand retrieval mechanisms 262, one or more doors 264 or other accesspoints, one or more sensors 265, one or more environmental controls 266and one or more item engagement systems 268. The launch and retrievalmechanisms 262, the doors 264, the sensors 265 and/or the environmentalcontrols 266 may operate in the manner described above with regard tothe launch and retrieval mechanisms 252, the doors 254, the sensors 255and/or the environmental controls 256 of the intermodal carrier vehicle250, or in a similar manner, and may include any of the attributes orfeatures of the launch and retrieval mechanisms 252, the doors 254, thesensors 255 and/or the environmental controls 256 described above.

Additionally, the engagement system 268 may be any mechanicalcomponents, e.g., robotic arms, cable robots or other automated systemsfor performing one or more maintenance, repairs or servicing evolutionson an aerial vehicle 270 within the intermodal maintenance vehicle 260,as desired. For example, when an aerial vehicle 270 has a brokenpropeller, a faulted motor, a battery with a low charge level, or anyother issue or discrepancy, or otherwise requires any other maintenance,repairs or servicing evolutions (e.g., inspections or evaluations), theaerial vehicle 270 may be received within the compartment defined by theintermodal maintenance vehicle 260, e.g., by the launch and retrievalmechanism 262, and a replacement propeller, a replacement motor or areplacement battery may be installed therein. Alternatively, any type orform of inspections or evaluations may be performed on an aerial vehicle270 within the intermodal maintenance vehicle 260. Like the engagementsystems 258, the engagement systems 268 may include any number ofcontrollers, arms, end effectors, drive systems and/or sensors foridentifying locations of one or more items within the intermodalmaintenance vehicle 260, engaging one or more of the items at suchlocations, delivering such items to the aerial vehicle 270 or anotherlocation within the intermodal maintenance vehicle 260, and depositingor installing such items within the aerial vehicle 270 either directlyor by way of one or more conveyors or other systems.

In some embodiments, the intermodal maintenance vehicle 260 may, likethe intermodal carrier vehicle 250, be formed from one or moreintermodal containers, e.g., steel structural vessels having standardsizes and/or shapes, by way of repurposing or reconstructing suchintermodal containers in order to install the launch and retrievalmechanisms 262, the doors 264, the environmental controls 266 and/or theitem engagement systems 258 therein. The intermodal carrier vehicle 260may also include any number of computer processors, data stores, memorycomponents or communications equipment for controlling the operation ofthe launch and retrieval mechanism 262, the doors 264, the environmentalcontrols 266 and/or the engagement system 268, or for receivinginstructions for the operation thereof.

As is shown in FIG. 2B, the aerial vehicle 270 includes a processor 272,a memory 274 and a transceiver 276, as well as a control system 280, oneor more propulsion motors 281, one or more control surfaces 283, one ormore item engagement systems 285, one or more sensors 282, one or morepower modules 284, and one or more navigation modules 286.

The processor 272 may be configured to perform any type or form ofcomputing function, including but not limited to the execution of one ormore machine learning algorithms or techniques. For example, theprocessor 272 may control any aspects of the operation of the aerialvehicle 270 and the one or more computer-based components thereon,including but not limited to the propulsion motors 281, the controlsurfaces 283, the item engagement systems 285, the sensors 282, thepower modules 284 and/or the navigation modules 286.

The processor 272 may be a uniprocessor system including one processor,or a multiprocessor system including several processors (e.g., two,four, eight, or another suitable number), and may be capable ofexecuting instructions. For example, in some embodiments, the processor272 may be a general-purpose or embedded processor implementing any of anumber of instruction set architectures (ISAs), such as the x86,PowerPC, SPARC, or MIPS ISAs, or any other suitable ISA. Where theprocessor 272 is a multiprocessor system, each of the processors withinthe multiprocessor system may operate the same ISA, or different ISAs.

The aerial vehicle 270 further includes one or more memory or storagecomponents 274 (such as databases or data stores) for storing any typeof information or data, e.g., instructions for operating the aerialvehicle 270, or information or data captured during operations of theaerial vehicle 270. Additionally, the memory 274 may be configured tostore executable instructions, flight paths, flight control parametersand/or other data items accessible by or to the processor 272. Thememory 274 may be implemented using any suitable memory technology, suchas static random access memory (SRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM),nonvolatile/Flash-type memory, or any other type of memory. In someembodiments, program instructions, flight paths, flight controlparameters and/or other data items may be received or sent via thetransceiver 276, e.g., by transmission media or signals, such aselectrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals, which may be conveyedvia a communication medium such as a wired and/or a wireless link.

The transceiver 276 may be configured to enable the aerial vehicle 270to communicate through one or more wired or wireless means, e.g., wiredtechnologies such as Universal Serial Bus (or “USB”) or fiber opticcable, or standard wireless protocols such as Bluetooth® or any WirelessFidelity (or “Wi-Fi”) protocol, such as over the network 290 ordirectly. The transceiver 276 may further include or be in communicationwith one or more input/output (or “I/O”) interfaces, network interfacesand/or input/output devices, and may be configured to allow informationor data to be exchanged between one or more of the components of theaerial vehicle 270, or to one or more other computer devices or systems(e.g., other aerial vehicles, not shown) via the network 290. Forexample, in some embodiments, the transceiver 276 may be configured tocoordinate I/O traffic between the processor 272 and one or more onboardor external computer devices or components. The transceiver 276 mayperform any necessary protocol, timing or other data transformations inorder to convert data signals from a first format suitable for use byone component into a second format suitable for use by anothercomponent. In some embodiments, the transceiver 276 may include supportfor devices attached through various types of peripheral buses, e.g.,variants of the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus standard orthe Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard. In some other embodiments,functions of the transceiver 276 may be split into two or more separatecomponents, or incorporated directly into the processor 272.

In some embodiments, the transceiver 276 may transmit and/or receivesignals according to the Bluetooth® Low Energy, e.g., within a frequencyspectrum of approximately 2.4000 to 2.4835 gigahertz (GHz), and intwo-megahertz (2 MHz) channels, or according to the Ultra Widebandstandard, e.g., within a frequency spectrum of approximately 3.1 to 10.6gigahertz (GHz), with bandwidths of at least five hundred megahertz (500MHz), or at least twenty percent of a center frequency. The transceiver276 may include any number of processors, chips (e.g., chipsets) orother components that are commonly associated with or required forcommunication according to a selected communications protocol orstandard, or programmed as necessary (e.g., with one or moreapplications and/or sets of instructions) in order to communicateaccording to the selected protocol or standard. The signals transmittedand/or received by the transceiver 276 may be of any kind or type, andmay be sent over the network 290, e.g., as is indicated by line 278, ordirectly to one or more of the computing device 222 of the customer 220,to the processor 242 of the powered vehicle 245, the intermodal carriervehicle 250 and/or the intermodal maintenance vehicle 260, or to otheraerial vehicles (not shown).

The control system 280 may include one or more software applications orhardware components configured for controlling or monitoring operationsof one or more components such as the propulsion motors 281, the controlsurfaces 283, the item engagement systems 285, the sensors 282, thepower modules 284 and/or the navigation modules 286, e.g., by receiving,generating, storing and/or transmitting one or more computerinstructions to such components. The control system 280 may communicatewith the marketplace 210, the customer 220, the fulfillment center 230and/or the mobile intermodal delivery system 240, over the network 290,as indicated by line 278, through the sending and receiving of digitaldata. In some embodiments, the control system 280 may be integrated withor include the processor 272.

The propulsion motors 281 may be any type or form of motor (e.g.,electric, gasoline-powered or any other type of motor) capable ofgenerating sufficient rotational speeds of one or more propellers orother components to provide lift and/or thrust forces to the aerialvehicle 270 and any engaged payload, and to aerially transport theengaged payload thereby. For example, one or more of the propulsionmotors 281 may be a brushless direct current (DC) motor such as anoutrunner brushless motor or an inrunner brushless motor. The aerialvehicle 270 may include any number of such propulsion motors 281 of anykind. For example, one or more of the motors 281 may be aligned orconfigured to provide forces of lift to the aerial vehicle 270,exclusively, while one or more of the propulsion motors 281 may bealigned or configured to provide forces of thrust to the aerial vehicle270, exclusively. Alternatively, one or more of the propulsion motors281 may be aligned or configured to provide forces of lift and forces ofthrust to the aerial vehicle 270, as needed. For example, the propulsionmotors 281 may be fixed in their orientation on the aerial vehicle 270,or configured to vary their respective orientations, e.g., a tilt-rotoraircraft. Moreover, the propulsion motors 281 may be aligned orconfigured to operate with different capacities or ratings, or atdifferent speeds, or coupled to propellers having different sizes andshapes.

The control surfaces 283 may be one or more fixed or movable (e.g.,repositionable or reorientable) control surfaces such as wings, rudders,ailerons, elevators, flaps, brakes or slats, or other features forcontrolling or changing a course, an altitude or an attitude (e.g., ayaw, a pitch or a roll) of the aerial vehicle 270.

The item engagement systems 285 may be any mechanical component, e.g., arobotic arm, for engaging an item or for disengaging the item, asdesired. For example, when the aerial vehicle 270 is tasked withdelivering items from the mobile intermodal delivery system 240, theitem engagement system 285 may receive an item from the engagementsystem 258 of the intermodal carrier vehicle 250, and depart theintermodal carrier vehicle 250 for a location to which the items are tobe delivered. The item engagement systems 285 may then be used todeposit the items at the location, and to engage with one or more otheritems upon a return of the aerial vehicle 270 to the intermodal carriervehicle 250. The item engagement systems 285 may include any number ofcontrollers, arms, end effectors, drive systems and/or sensors forreceiving one or more items, for repositioning the one or more itemswith respect to a frame or other structure of the aerial vehicle 270,and for depositing the one or more items at a desired location.

The sensors 282 may be any components or other features for capturinginformation or data during the operation of the aerial vehicle 270,including but not limited to one or more position sensors (e.g., GPSsystem receivers, accelerometers, compasses, gyroscopes, altimeters),imaging devices (e.g., digital cameras, depth sensors, range cameras,infrared cameras, radiographic cameras or other optical sensors),speedometers (e.g., anemometers), thermometers, barometers, hygrometers,air monitoring sensors (e.g., oxygen, ozone, hydrogen, carbon monoxideor carbon dioxide sensors), infrared sensors, ozone monitors, pHsensors, magnetic anomaly detectors, metal detectors, radiation sensors(e.g., Geiger counters, neutron detectors, alpha detectors), attitudeindicators, depth gauges or sound sensors (e.g., microphones,piezoelectric sensors, vibration sensors or other transducers fordetecting and recording acoustic energy from one or more directions).The sensors 282 may include any number of memory or storage componentsand processors, photosensitive surfaces, filters, chips, electrodes,clocks, boards, timers or any other relevant features (not shown) foraiding in their operation.

The power modules 284 may be any type of power source for providingelectrical power, mechanical power or other forms of power in support ofone or more electrical or mechanical loads aboard the aerial vehicle270. In some embodiments, the power modules 284 may include one or morebatteries or other power cells, e.g., dry cell or wet cell batteriessuch as lead-acid batteries, lithium ion batteries, nickel cadmiumbatteries or nickel metal hydride batteries, or any other type, size orform of batteries. The power modules 284 may each have any cellvoltages, peak load currents, charge times, specific energies, internalresistances or cycle lives, or other power ratings. The power modules284 may also be any type, size or form of other power source, e.g.,other than a battery, including but not limited to or more fuel cells,turbines, solar cells or nuclear reactors. Alternatively, the powermodules 284 may be another form of prime mover (e.g., electric,gasoline-powered or any other type of motor) capable of generatingsufficient mechanical forces for the aerial vehicle 270.

The navigation modules 286 may include one or more software applicationsor hardware components including or having access to information or dataregarding aspects of transportation systems within a given region,including the locations, dimensions, capacities, conditions, statuses orother attributes of various paths or routes in the region (e.g., one ormore sets of rails, roads or shipping channels). For example, thenavigation modules 286 may receive inputs from the sensors 282, e.g.,from a GPS receiver, an imaging device or another sensor, and determinean optimal direction and/or an optimal speed of the aerial vehicle 270for travelling on a given path or route based on such inputs. Thenavigation modules 286 may select a path or route to be traveled by theaerial vehicle 270, and may provide information or data regarding theselected path or route to the control system 280.

Although the block diagram 200 of FIGS. 2A and 2B includes single boxescorresponding to the marketplace 210, the customer 220, the fulfillmentcenter 230, the mobile intermodal delivery system 240, the poweredvehicle 245, the intermodal carrier vehicle 250, the intermodalmaintenance vehicle 260 and the aerial vehicle 270, those of ordinaryskill in the pertinent arts will recognize that the system 200 mayinclude any number of marketplaces, fulfillment centers, customers,mobile intermodal delivery systems, powered vehicles, intermodal carriervehicles, intermodal maintenance vehicles and/or aerial vehicles forperforming one or more of the operations disclosed herein, each of whichmay include features that are identical to one another, or may becustomized in any manner.

Any combination of networks or communications protocols may be utilizedin accordance with the systems and methods of the present disclosure.For example, each of the mobile intermodal delivery systems 240 and/orthe respective powered vehicles 245, intermodal carrier vehicles 250and/or intermodal maintenance vehicles 260 and each of the aerialvehicles 270 may be configured to communicate with one another or withthe marketplace server 212, the customer computer 222 and/or thefulfillment center server 232 via the network 290, such as is shown inFIGS. 2A and 2B, e.g., via an open or standard protocol such as Wi-Fi.Alternatively, each of the mobile intermodal delivery systems 240 and/orthe respective powered vehicles 245, intermodal carrier vehicles 250and/or intermodal maintenance vehicles 260 and each of the aerialvehicles 270 may be configured to communicate with one another directlyoutside of a centralized network, such as the network 290, e.g., by awireless protocol such as Bluetooth, in which two or more of the mobileintermodal delivery systems 240 and/or the respective powered vehicles245, intermodal carrier vehicles 250 and/or intermodal maintenancevehicles 260 and each of the aerial vehicles 270 may be paired with oneanother.

The aerial vehicles 270 may be configured to be programmed with one ormore sets of instructions for performing any number of missions inaccordance with the present disclosure. Such instructions may include ageneral description and/or coordinates of a departure point, a deliverypoint (e.g., a location to which an item is to be delivered or fromwhich the item is to be retrieved) or a rendezvous point or,alternatively, one or more sets of specific instructions for causing theaerial vehicles 270 to travel on predetermined courses or atpredetermined speeds or altitudes. Moreover, the aerial vehicles 270 mayalso be configured to be programmed with one or more sets ofinstructions associated with contingency planning, such as when anaerial vehicle 270 arrives at a predetermined location earlier thanintended, or when an aerial vehicle 270 is expected to arrive at apredetermined location later than intended, based on one or moreunanticipated or unexpected events or circumstances that may beencountered by the mobile intermodal delivery system 240 and/or theaerial vehicle 270 while the aerial vehicle 270 is in flight.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the aerial vehicles 270and the intermodal carrier vehicles 250 and/or the intermodalmaintenance vehicles 260 may be configured to communicate with oneanother during landing and/or takeoff operations. For example, becausevehicles such as rail cars, container ships or trailers typically engagein rocking, rolling or other motion, such as hunting oscillation orother patterned motion, while traveling along a path, instructing anaerial vehicle to take off from or land within an intermodal carriervehicle or an intermodal mechanical vehicle may be particularlychallenging. Accordingly, the information or data gathered by one ormore sensors carried aboard the aerial vehicles 270 and/or theintermodal carrier vehicles 250 or the intermodal maintenance vehicles260 may be shared between the respective vehicles in determining one ormore instructions for causing the aerial vehicles 270 to take offtherefrom or land therein, and may be provided to one or more servers,processors or other computer devices configured to execute one or moreartificial intelligence, fuzzy logic or other algorithms, or otherwiseconfigured to respond to any oscillations, variations or otheranticipated or unanticipated changes to absolute or relative positionsof the intermodal carrier vehicles 250 or the intermodal maintenancevehicles 260 and the aerial vehicles 270 with respect to one another.

The computers, servers, devices and the like described herein have thenecessary electronics, software, memory, storage, databases, firmware,logic/state machines, microprocessors, communication links, displays orother visual or audio user interfaces, printing devices, and any otherinput/output interfaces to provide any of the functions or servicesdescribed herein and/or achieve the results described herein. Also,those of ordinary skill in the pertinent art will recognize that usersof such computers, servers, devices and the like may operate a keyboard,keypad, mouse, stylus, touch screen, or other device (not shown) ormethod to interact with the computers, servers, devices and the like, orto “select” an item, link, node, hub or any other aspect of the presentdisclosure.

Those of ordinary skill in the pertinent arts will understand thatprocess steps described herein as being performed by a “marketplace,” a“customer,” a “fulfillment center,” a “mobile intermodal deliverysystem” (or a “powered vehicle,” an “intermodal carrier vehicle” or an“intermodal maintenance system”), or like terms, may be automated stepsperformed by their respective computer systems, or implemented withinsoftware modules (or computer programs) executed by one or more generalpurpose computers. Moreover, process steps described as being performedby a “marketplace,” a “customer,” a “fulfillment center,” a “mobileintermodal delivery system” (or a “powered vehicle,” an “intermodalcarrier vehicle” or an “intermodal maintenance system”), or like terms,may be typically performed by a human operator, but could,alternatively, be performed by an automated agent.

The marketplace 210, the customer 220, the fulfillment center 230, themobile intermodal delivery system 240 and/or the aerial vehicle 270 mayuse any web-enabled or Internet applications or features, or any otherclient-server applications or features including electronic mail (orE-mail), or other messaging techniques, to connect to the network 290 orto communicate with one another, such as through short or multimediamessaging service (SMS or MMS) text messages, social network messages,online marketplace messages, telephone calls or the like. For example,in some embodiments, the fulfillment center 230 and/or the server 232may be adapted to transmit information or data in the form ofsynchronous or asynchronous messages to the marketplace 210 and/or theserver 212, the customer 220 and/or the computing device 222, the mobileintermodal delivery system 240 or the aerial vehicle 270, or any othercomputer device in real time or in near-real time, or in one or moreoffline processes, via the network 290. Those of ordinary skill in thepertinent art would recognize that the marketplace 210, the customer220, the fulfillment center 230, the mobile intermodal delivery system240 and/or the aerial vehicle 270 may operate any of a number ofcomputing devices that are capable of communicating over the network,including but not limited to set-top boxes, personal digital assistants,digital media players, web pads, smartphones, tablet computers, laptopcomputers, desktop computers, electronic book readers, and the like. Theprotocols and components for providing communication between suchdevices are well known to those skilled in the art of computercommunications and need not be described in more detail herein.

The data and/or computer executable instructions, programs, firmware,software and the like (also referred to herein as “computer executable”components) described herein may be stored on a computer-readable mediumthat is within or accessible by computers or computer components andhaving sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor(e.g., a central processing unit, or “CPU”), cause the processor toperform all or a portion of the functions, services and/or methodsdescribed herein. Such computer executable instructions, programs,software and the like may be loaded into the memory of one or morecomputers using a drive mechanism associated with the computer readablemedium, such as a floppy drive, CD-ROM drive, DVD-ROM drive, networkinterface, or the like, or via external connections.

Some embodiments of the systems and methods of the present disclosuremay also be provided as a computer executable program product includinga non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereoninstructions (in compressed or uncompressed form) that may be used toprogram a computer (or other electronic device) to perform processes ormethods described herein. The machine-readable storage medium mayinclude, but is not limited to, hard drives, floppy diskettes, opticaldisks, CD-ROMs, DVDs, ROMs, RAMs, erasable programmable ROMs (“EPROM”),electrically erasable programmable ROMs (“EEPROM”), flash memory,magnetic or optical cards, solid-state memory devices, or other types ofmedia/machine-readable medium that may be suitable for storingelectronic instructions. Further, embodiments may also be provided as acomputer executable program product that includes a transitorymachine-readable signal (in compressed or uncompressed form). Examplesof machine-readable signals, whether modulated using a carrier or not,may include, but are not limited to, signals that a computer system ormachine hosting or running a computer program can be configured toaccess, or including signals that may be downloaded through the Internetor other networks.

As is discussed above, the mobile intermodal delivery systems of thepresent disclosure may be utilized to fulfill orders for deliveries ofone or more items to customers. In particular, mobile intermodaldelivery systems may be loaded with one or more items and one or moreaerial vehicles, and dispatched throughout a transportation network(e.g., rails, shipping channels and/or waterways, or highways). When anorder for the delivery of an item to a location is received, a mobileintermodal delivery system having the item may be identified, and theorder may be assigned to the mobile intermodal delivery system forfulfillment. The item may then be automatically loaded onto an aerialvehicle, which may then depart the mobile intermodal delivery system andtravel to the location to deposit the item there. The aerial vehicle maythen return to the mobile intermodal delivery system, e.g., at arendezvous point, where the aerial vehicle may remain available tofulfill another order, or may receive one or more maintenance, repairsor servicing operations.

At box 310, a mobile carrier system having an intermodal maintenancevehicle and an intermodal carrier having an unmanned aerial vehicle andone or more items aboard is in transit within a region. For example, insome embodiments, such as is shown in FIGS. 1A through 1L, one or moreof the intermodal carrier vehicles 150 may be pulled, pushed orotherwise caused to travel along the tracks 125 by the powered vehicle145, and may be coupled to one or more intermodal maintenance vehicles160. At box 320, an order for delivery of an item aboard the intermodalcarrier to a location in the region is received, e.g., by an onlinemarketplace or other electronic platform, from a customer over anetwork. In some embodiments, the intermodal carrier may be the onlyavailable source of the item. In other embodiments, the intermodalcarrier may be selected on any relevant basis, including but not limitedto the proximity of the intermodal carrier to the location in theregion, the operational capacity of one or more unmanned aerial vehiclesthereon to fulfill the order (e.g., the types, classes, sizes orcapacities of the aerial vehicles on the intermodal carrier, or anyother operational commitments to which the intermodal carrier may bededicated), prevailing environmental conditions, or on any other factor.For example, the intermodal carrier and/or one or more of the aerialvehicles therein may be selected based at least in part on a minimum netcost, distance and/or time required to fulfill the order thereby.

At box 330, the item is loaded onto the unmanned aerial vehicle. In someembodiments, the intermodal carrier may include a single unmanned aerialvehicle that may be available for deliveries of items from theintermodal carrier to one or more destinations. In other embodiments,however, the intermodal carrier may include a plurality of unmannedaerial vehicles that may be available for deliveries of items. In suchembodiments, the unmanned aerial vehicle onto which the item is loadedmay be selected on any basis, including an available power level, aspeed rating, a noise rating, or any other factor, e.g., a minimum netcost, distance and/or time required to fulfill the order thereby, aswell as an operating range, a power rating or a carrying capacity.Alternatively, the unmanned aerial vehicle may be selected at random, ormay be the next available unmanned aerial vehicle for performing adelivery.

At box 340, launch conditions may be established within the intermodalcarrier. For example, in some embodiments, a course and/or a speed of apowered vehicle may be changed, as necessary, in order to generateoptimal wind conditions for launch outside of the intermodal carrier. Insome other embodiments, the intermodal carrier may be outfitted with oneor more ducts, vents, intakes or outlets that enable air flow to enterthe intermodal carrier vehicle, to travel therethrough at desiredvelocities and/or pressures, and/or to exit from the intermodal carriervehicle. In some other embodiments, the intermodal carrier may includeone or more heaters, chillers, humidifiers and/or dehumidifiers toestablish one or more desired temperatures and/or humidity levels withinthe intermodal carrier prior to launch.

At box 345, the intermodal carrier opens to permit the unmanned aerialvehicle to launch therefrom, and, after the unmanned aerial vehicle hascleared the intermodal carrier, at box 355, the intermodal carriercloses. For example, the intermodal carrier may include one or moredoors, e.g., split doors that may open side-to-side, or front and back,or, alternatively, slidable or rollable doors that may openforward-to-aft or aft-to-forward. The intermodal carrier may furtherinclude one or more launching or retrieval systems for lifting orexpelling the unmanned aerial vehicle out of the intermodal carrier,such as elevators, pulleys, lifts, catapults or other systems.

At box 360, after having cleared the intermodal carrier, the unmannedaerial vehicle departs for the location specified in the order while themobile delivery system remains in transit, e.g., on a set of rails, in ashipping channel and/or on a roadway. The unmanned aerial vehicle may beprogrammed with general or specific instructions for causing theunmanned aerial vehicle to travel on a desired course, or at a desiredspeed or altitude, or in accordance with any other operatingcharacteristic. Alternatively, or additionally, the unmanned aerialvehicle may be programmed with general or specific instructions forresponding to one or more contingencies or other factors that may beencountered while the unmanned aerial vehicle is in transit. At box 365,whether the delivery operation is complete is determined. If thedelivery operation is not complete, then the process returns to box 360,where the intermodal carrier remains in transit while the unmannedaerial vehicle is en route to the location. If the delivery operation iscomplete, however, then the process advances to box 370, where theunmanned aerial vehicle returns to the intermodal carrier, e.g., at adesignated or predetermined rendezvous point that may be selected basedon a variety of factors including but not limited to a course and speedof the intermodal carrier, the location where the item was delivered,operational capacities and/or constraints of the intermodal carrierand/or the unmanned aerial vehicle, or any other relevant factor.

At box 375, whether the unmanned aerial vehicle requires servicing isdetermined. For example, the unmanned aerial vehicle may have a lowbattery level, or may require scheduled and/or preventive maintenance orinspections. Alternatively, one or more propulsion motors, propellers orother components may be radiating abnormal or high levels of noise, ormay be observed to be performing at substandard or unacceptable levels.If the unmanned aerial vehicle requires servicing, then the processadvances to box 385, where an intermodal maintenance vehicle opens toreceive the unmanned aerial vehicle therein. As is discussed above, theintermodal maintenance vehicle may include the same numbers and/or typesof doors as the intermodal carrier vehicle, or different numbers ortypes of doors, which may be operated in the same manner as the doors ofthe intermodal carrier vehicle at box 350 or in a different manner. Atbox 390, one or more servicing operations (e.g., maintenance, repairs,inspections or any other relevant evolutions relating to theair-worthiness of the aerial vehicle) are performed, and the processends. Alternatively, in some embodiments, when the unmanned aerialvehicle requires servicing, the unmanned aerial vehicle may be routednot to a mobile intermodal delivery system from which it was launchedbut to an alternate destination that may be specifically configured toperform the servicing operations that may be required, e.g., anothermobile intermodal delivery system and/or a fixed facility, beforereturning to the intermodal carrier from which the unmanned aerialvehicle was launched.

If the aerial vehicle does not require servicing, however, then theprocess advances to box 380, where the intermodal carrier reopens toreceive the unmanned aerial vehicle therein, and the process ends.

As is discussed above, the intermodal carrier vehicles and/or theintermodal maintenance vehicles of the present disclosure may be formedfrom one or more intermodal containers and may utilize any type of formof doors or other portals for enabling aerial vehicles to launch from orreturn to compartments therein. Referring to FIGS. 4A through 4D, viewsof aspects of one mobile intermodal delivery system in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Except where otherwisenoted, reference numerals preceded by the number “4” in FIGS. 4A through4D refer to elements that are similar to elements having referencenumerals preceded by the number “2” in FIG. 2A or FIG. 2B or by thenumber “1” shown in FIGS. 1A through 1L.

As is shown in FIG. 4A, an intermodal carrier 450 includes a pair ofintermodal containers 451A, 451B that are stacked atop one another andconfigured for placement aboard a well car, a container ship, a traileror another carrier and pushed, pulled or carried by any type of poweredvehicle. Each of the intermodal containers 451A, 451B featurescorrugated sides and has a height h₄₅₀, a width w₄₅₀ and a length l₄₅₀.Additionally, the upper intermodal container 451A includes a slidabledoor (e.g., a roller shutter door) 454, a forward intake duct 456A andan aft outlet duct 456B. Alternatively, the intermodal carrier 450 mayinclude any number of other doors including one or more doors that mayopen side-to-side, forward-to-aft or aft-to-forward. Thus, theintermodal carrier 450 of FIG. 4A has a height of 2h₄₅₀ when theintermodal containers 451A, 451B are stacked atop one another. Theintermodal containers 451A, 451B may be selected on any basis, includingwhether the height 2h₄₅₀, the width w₄₅₀ and the length l₄₅₀ of theintermodal carrier 450 may be accommodated by the infrastructureassociated with one or more transit modes, e.g., heights of bridges,tunnels or other features, or on any other factor. For example, in someembodiments, the intermodal containers 451A, 451B may have beenpreviously utilized in connection with one or more items to apredetermined destination, and may be repurposed for use as anintermodal carrier or, alternatively, as an intermodal maintenancevehicle.

As is shown in FIG. 4B and FIG. 4C, a view of an interior compartment ofthe intermodal carrier 450 shows a plurality of items 40, a launch andretrieval system 452, a motorized roller (e.g., a tubular roller) 455for retracting or extending the slidable door 454, an item engagementsystem 458 and a plurality of aerial vehicles 470-1, 470-2, 470-3,470-4, 470-5. The aerial vehicles 470-1, 470-2, 470-3, 470-5 are shownin a stack in an aft portion of the intermodal carrier 450. The aerialvehicle 470-4 is shown on the launch and retrieval system 452, whichincludes a conveyor that extends to the stack of the aerial vehicles470-1, 470-2, 470-3, 470-5, and may be raised and/or lowered, asnecessary, in order to retract one or more of the aerial vehicles 470-1,470-2, 470-3, 470-5 from the stack. Additionally, the conveyor may berotated about a vertical axis, e.g., in order to place an aerial vehicleon the conveyor (e.g., the aerial vehicle 470-4) within a range of theitem engagement system 458. Alternatively, the interior compartment ofthe intermodal carrier 450 may further include any number of sensors orother systems or components (not shown), including but not limited toposition sensors, imaging devices or other systems that may be used tomonitor operations of the intermodal carrier 450 or one or more of theaerial vehicles 470-1, 470-2, 470-3, 470-4, 470-5 therein, or for aidingin their operation.

As is shown in FIG. 4D, the intermodal carrier 450 is configured tolaunch the aerial vehicle 470-4 therefrom, in order to enable the aerialvehicle 470-4 to deliver an item to a predetermined destination. First,an item may be loaded onto the aerial vehicle 470-4 by rotating theconveyor of the launch and retrieval system 452 about a vertical axis,e.g., by approximately one hundred eighty degrees (180°), and raisingthe conveyor to within a range of the item engagement system 458. Next,preferred launching conditions, such as conditions consistent with anexterior of the intermodal carrier 450, may be established by operatingthe forward intake duct 456A and the aft outlet duct 456B until adesired air velocity and/or pressure is established within theintermodal carrier 450. Finally, the slidable door 454 may be retractedby the motorized roller 455. Once the slidable door 454 has beenretracted to a sufficient extent, the aerial vehicle 470 may take offfrom the intermodal carrier 450 and deliver one of the items 40 to apredetermined destination. The launch and retrieval system 452 may befurther rotated, as necessary, to align the aerial vehicle 470 in adesired orientation prior to takeoff. As is discussed above, theintermodal carrier 450 may be further configured to conduct landing orretrieving operations, such as by operating one or more of the systemsdisclosed herein in a reverse or reciprocal fashion, and, alternatively,by establishing preferred landing or retrieving conditions within theintermodal carrier 450, as necessary, prior to commencing any landing orretrieving operations.

As is discussed above, aerial vehicles may be launched and/or retrievedfrom a mobile intermodal delivery system using any type of launchingand/or retrieval system. Referring to FIGS. 5A through 5C, views ofcomponents for use in mobile intermodal delivery systems in accordancewith embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. Except whereotherwise noted, reference numerals preceded by the number “5” in FIGS.5A through 5C refer to elements that are similar to elements havingreference numerals preceded by the number “4” in FIGS. 4A through 4D, bythe number “2” in FIG. 2A or FIG. 2B or by the number “1” shown in FIGS.1A through 1L.

As is shown in FIG. 5A, a launch and retrieval system 552A includes asubstantially rectangular platform that may be raised or lowered, asnecessary. For example, the launch and retrieval system 552A of FIG. 5Amay be configured to receive an aerial vehicle and/or an item thereon,to raise the aerial vehicle in a desired height within or beyond anintermodal carrier vehicle or intermodal maintenance vehicle forvertical takeoff operations, and to enable the aerial vehicle to belaunched therefrom. Reciprocally, the launch and retrieval system 552Amay also be used to retrieve an aerial vehicle thereon followingoperations, to lower the aerial vehicle to a height within theintermodal carrier, and to enable the aerial vehicle to be removedtherefrom.

As is shown in FIG. 5B, a launch and retrieval system 552B includes asliding platform on a pair of rails, each of which is supported by acorresponding pair of hydraulic jacks, pistons or other systems. Byindependently or collectively operating the hydraulic jacks, pistons orother systems, the pair of rails may be raised in a vertical direction(or along a z-axis, as is shown in FIG. 5B), rotated about a forwardaxis (or an x-axis, as is shown in FIG. 5B) or rotated about a lateralaxis (or a y-axis, as is shown in FIG. 5B), thereby enabling an aerialvehicle placed thereon to be aligned in a variety of orientations priorto takeoff, or during or after landing. Additionally, the slidingplatform may be translated in a direction of the forward axis (or thex-axis) in any manner, e.g., by one or more motors, rockets, catapultsor other like systems, to impart an additional force in this directionto an aerial vehicle prior to takeoff.

As is shown in FIG. 5C, a launch and retrieval system 552C includes acircular disc that may be rotated about a vertical axis (or a z-axis, asis shown in FIG. 5C), raised or lowered in the direction of the verticalaxis, or gimbaled in any direction, thereby enabling an aerial vehicleplaced thereon to be aligned in a variety of orientations prior totakeoff, or during or after landing.

The engagement systems of the present disclosure may include any numberof components or features for interacting with one or more items and/oraerial vehicles within an intermodal carrier vehicle and/or within anintermodal maintenance vehicle in accordance with the presentdisclosure, including but not limited to one or more controllers, arms,end effectors, drive systems and/or sensors or like components orfeatures. Referring to FIG. 6, a view of aspects of one mobileintermodal delivery system in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure is shown. Except where otherwise noted, reference numeralspreceded by the number “6” in FIG. 6 refer to elements that are similarto elements having reference numerals preceded by the number “5” inFIGS. 5A through 5C, by the number “4” in FIGS. 4A through 4D, by thenumber “2” in FIG. 2A or FIG. 2B or by the number “1” shown in FIGS. 1Athrough 1L.

FIG. 6 shows an outline of components within a compartment of anintermodal carrier vehicle 650, including but not limited to componentsthat may be installed or mounted within one or more repurposedintermodal containers. As is shown in FIG. 6, the intermodal carriervehicle 650 includes a plurality of items 60, a launch and retrievalsystem 652 and an engagement system 658 within a compartment defined bythe intermodal carrier vehicle 650. The launch and retrieval system 652is shown as including a conveyor with an aerial vehicle 670 restingthereon. The engagement system 658 includes a cable robot suspendedwithin the compartment of the intermodal carrier vehicle 650 by aplurality of tensioning actuators 657A, 657B, 657C, 657D, 657E, 657F,657G, 657H, each of which is mounted to an interior of the intermodalcarrier vehicle 650 and connected in tension to the engagement system658 by way of a cable in tension. In some embodiments, the engagementsystem 658 may further include a pair of opposed induction conveyorsthat are substantially vertically aligned and configured toautomatically receive an item 60 therebetween on the engagement system658, and to expel the item 60 therefrom when the engagement system 658is in a desired position with respect to the launch and retrieval system652 and/or the aerial vehicle 670. The induction conveyors may beoperated by one or more controllers (not shown), and may be provided inany other relevant alignment that permits items to be fixed therebetweenor onto the engagement system 658 in another manner, and to be expelledfrom the engagement system 658 thereby, including but not limited tosubstantially horizontal alignments, or alignments at one or morenon-horizontal and non-vertical angles.

Although the components such as the intermodal containers 451A, 451B,the launch and retrieval platform 452, the slidable door 454, the ducts456A, 456B and the item engagement system 458 shown in FIGS. 4A through4D or the engagement system 658 of FIG. 6 are utilized in connectionwith an intermodal carrier, those of ordinary skill in the pertinentarts will recognize that one or more of such components may be utilizedin connection with an intermodal maintenance vehicle, or in connectionwith a combined intermodal vehicle that includes both item carrying andmaintenance capacities or features. Additionally, those of ordinaryskill in the pertinent arts will recognize that an intermodal carriervehicle and/or an intermodal maintenance vehicle may include one or morelaunch and retrieval systems, including one or more of the systems 152,162, 452, 552A, 552B, 552C, 652 shown in FIGS. 1B, 1C, 1E-1G, 1L, 4B-4D,5A-5C and 6, or other such systems. Alternatively, in some embodiments,an intermodal carrier vehicle and/or an intermodal maintenance vehiclemay include separate systems for launching and/or retrieving aerialvehicles.

As is discussed above, in some embodiments, the systems and methods ofthe present disclosure may be used to distribute, or forward-deploy,inventory from one location to another location where demand for suchitems is known, observed or predicted, using intermodal carriers thatinclude such items and one or more aerial vehicles. The intermodalcarriers of the present disclosure may ultimately act as a mobilefulfillment center, and place one or more items within a shorterdistance and a shorter time of delivery of customers along transit modessuch as railroads, shipping channels and/or highways. Referring to FIG.7, a flow chart 700 of one process for operation of a mobile intermodaldelivery system in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosureis shown. At box 710, demand for one or more items is anticipated inregions within an operating range of an unmanned aerial vehicle of anintermodal route (e.g., a railway, a shipping channel, a highway) at oneor more predetermined times. For example, in some embodiments, theregional demand for the items may be determined based on priorpurchasing or delivering histories of customers in such regions, ordemographics to which such customers belong. In other embodiments, theregional demand may also be predicted based on attributes of therespective items, on any upcoming events occurring at the local,regional, national or global events levels, or on any traditional,prevailing or emerging attitudes or mores within the respective regionsthat may be determined on any basis and using information or dataobtained from any source, including but not limited to one or morepostings or comments made to social networks, or to details pages foritems maintained at an online marketplace or any other locations. Insome embodiments, once a level of demand is determined or predicted fora region, the level of demand may be compared to one or more thresholdsor limits in order to determine whether the distribution orforward-deployment of items to the region is justifiable or necessary.

At box 720, the placement of the items in an intermodal carrier isselected based on levels of demand in such regions. For example, anumber of items and their locations within an intermodal carrier may beselected based on the locations where their demand is anticipated withrespect to an intermodal route. Where a train pulling an intermodalcarrier is expected to travel within an unmanned aerial vehicleoperating range of three regions in series, items that are anticipatedto be in demand in the most distant region may be selected for loadinginto a most distant corner or section of the intermodal carrier, anditems that are anticipated to be in demand in the nearest region may beselected for loading into a nearest corner or section of the intermodalcarrier, thereby facilitating access to such items at appropriate times,and the loading of such items onto aerial vehicles accordingly.

At box 730, the items and one or more unmanned aerial vehicles areloaded onto the intermodal carrier, and at box 735, speeds for theintermodal carrier are selected based on levels of demand in therespective regions, and distances of the respective regions from theintermodal route. Such speeds may be selected in consideration of traveltimes for not only the intermodal carrier to arrive at a departure pointon an intermodal route but also the aerial vehicle to arrive at one ormore locations within the region in anticipation of the demand. Forexample, where the intermodal carrier is to be placed on a well car andpulled on a set of rails by a locomotive, in anticipation of demand foran item in two hours, a departure point for the aerial vehicle along theset of rails may be selected in order to ensure that the locomotive mayreach the departure point, and the aerial vehicle may travel from thedeparture point to locations where the demand is anticipated, in twohours or less.

At box 740, a powered vehicle causes the intermodal carrier to travelalong the intermodal route at the speeds that were selected at box 735.At box 750, an order for a delivery of an item to a location is receivedwhile the intermodal carrier is in motion along the intermodal route,e.g., by way of a network site associated with an online marketplace, ora dedicated shopping application operating on a smartphone or othercomputer device, or by any other means, and at box 755, the order isassigned to an unmanned aerial vehicle within the intermodal carrier.For example, upon receipt of an order for one or more items from acustomer, computer devices or resources operated by an onlinemarketplace, a fulfillment center or any other commercial entity maydetermine that the ordered items are available onboard the intermodalcarrier within a given region, and provide one or more instructions tothe intermodal carrier, e.g., over a network, to cause the item to beloaded onto an unmanned aerial vehicle within the aerial vehicle priorto reaching a departure point, and to cause the unmanned aerial vehicleto take off from the intermodal carrier when the departure point isreached. The intermodal carrier and/or the aerial vehicle to which thefulfillment of the order is assigned may be selected on any basis,including but not limited to a minimum net cost, a minimum net time or aminimum net distance required in order to fulfill the order, or on anyother factor.

At box 765, the unmanned aerial vehicle is launched from the intermodalcarrier and heads on a course for the location at a departure pointalong the intermodal route, which may be selected on any basis. In someembodiments, the departure point may be a closest (e.g., tangential)point between the location and the intermodal route. In otherembodiments, the departure point may be selected based on operationalconsiderations and/or constraints of the intermodal carrier and/or theaerial vehicle, or on any other factor. At box 770, the unmanned aerialvehicle deposits the item at the location, and at box 780, the unmannedaerial vehicle departs from the location on a course to meet theintermodal carrier at an arrival point (or a rendezvous point) along theintermodal route. The arrival point may also be selected on any basis,including but not limited to distances between the intermodal route andthe location, as well as operational considerations and/or constraintsof the intermodal carrier and/or the aerial vehicle, or any otherfactor. At box 790, the unmanned aerial vehicle lands within theintermodal carrier at the arrival point, and the process ends.Thereafter, the unmanned aerial vehicle may be subjected to one or moremaintenance, repairs or servicing evolutions before being loaded withone or more additional items and utilized in connection with anotherdelivery.

Items may be deployed in intermodal carriers along any route associatedwith a transportation system, e.g., on one or more sets of rails, roadsand/or shipping channels, and based on any levels of demand that may beanticipated for such items in regions or areas within a vicinity (e.g.,an operating range of an unmanned aerial vehicle carried aboard theintermodal carriers) of the route. Referring to FIG. 8, a view ofaspects of operation of one mobile intermodal delivery system inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Exceptwhere otherwise noted, reference numerals preceded by the number “8” inFIG. 8 refer to elements that are similar to elements having referencenumerals preceded by the number “6” in FIG. 6, by the number “5” inFIGS. 5A through 5C, by the number “4” in FIGS. 4A through 4D, by thenumber “2” in FIG. 2A or FIG. 2B or by the number “1” shown in FIGS. 1Athrough 1L.

As is shown in FIG. 8, a region 800 (viz., central Connecticut) isserviced by a variety of transportation modes or systems, including arail line 825. Demand for one or more items within areas in closeproximity to the rail line 825 may be predicted. For example, as isshown in FIG. 8, an area 820-1 (viz., East Hartford, Conn.) where apredicted demand for ketchup has been identified is locatedapproximately two miles from the rail line 825 at its shortest distance.Similarly, an area 820-2 (viz., Avon, Conn.) where a predicted demandfor cosmetics has been identified is located approximately seven milesfrom the rail line 825 at its shortest distance. An area 820-3 (viz.,Southington, Conn.) where a predicted demand for milk has beenidentified is located approximately four miles from the rail line 825 atits shortest distance. Areas 820-4, 820-5 (viz., Middletown, Conn., andDurham, Conn.) where predicted demands for pasta and athletic shoes havebeen identified are located approximately six and five miles,respectively, from the rail line 825 at their shortest distances.

Therefore, in accordance with some embodiments of the presentdisclosure, and as is shown in FIG. 8, one or more intermodal carriers(not shown) may be loaded with bottles of ketchup, compact containers,cartons of milk, boxes of pasta and/or pairs of athletic shoes at afulfillment center 830, along with one or more aerial vehicles (notshown). The intermodal carriers may then be placed onto well cars andcoupled to one or more locomotives or other powered vehicles, and causedto travel south along the rail line 825. In anticipation for receivingone or more orders for such items, or after receiving such orders, oneor more aerial vehicles may be loaded with the respective items andlaunched in directions of the areas 820-1, 820-2, 820-3, 820-4, 820-5,or in directions of locations where such items are to be delivered.After the items have been delivered, the aerial vehicles may return tothe intermodal carriers and be loaded with one or more additional itemsfor delivery or, alternatively, proceed to an intermodal maintenancevehicle for repairs or other servicing operations.

As is discussed above, the intermodal carrier vehicles and/or theintermodal maintenance vehicles of the present disclosure may beutilized in connection with any transit modes, and are not limited torail-based systems. Referring to FIGS. 9A and 9B, views of aspects ofoperation of mobile intermodal delivery systems in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure are shown. Except where otherwisenoted, reference numerals preceded by the number “9” in FIG. 9A or 9Brefer to elements that are similar to elements having reference numeralspreceded by the number “8” in FIG. 8, by the number “6” in FIG. 6, bythe number “5” in FIGS. 5A through 5C, by the number “4” in FIGS. 4Athrough 4D, by the number “2” in FIG. 2A or FIG. 2B or by the number “1”shown in FIGS. 1A through 1L.

As is shown in FIG. 9A, a mobile intermodal delivery system 940including a container ship 945 may be configured to receive a pluralityof intermodal containers 950-n thereon while in port. For example, as isshown in FIG. 9A, an intermodal container 950-i may be loaded onto thecontainer ship 945 by a crane 930. Each of the intermodal containers950-n may be loaded with a plurality of items and/or one or more aerialvehicles, and may include any number of launch and retrieval mechanisms,doors or other access points, environmental controls or engagementsystems.

Subsequently, as is shown in FIG. 9B, after the container ship 945departs from port, orders for one or more items that are stored withinthe intermodal containers 950-n and to be delivered within a vicinity ofthe container ship 945 may be fulfilled using aerial vehicles storedtherein, while the container ship 945 is underway. For example, anaerial vehicle 970-1 is shown as lifting off from an intermodalcontainer 950-1, while an aerial vehicle 970-2 is shown as returning toan intermodal container 950-2, and an aerial vehicle 970-3 is astraveling away from an intermodal container 950-3. In some embodiments,an aerial vehicle loaded into an intermodal container may be used todeliver items that are also loaded into the same intermodal container tolocations that are within a vicinity of the container ship 945. In otherembodiments, however, an aerial vehicle that is loaded into a firstintermodal container may be used to deliver items that are loaded into asecond intermodal container, e.g., by launching the aerial vehicle fromthe first intermodal container and by landing the aerial vehicle intothe second intermodal container, where the aerial vehicle may be loadedwith one or more items before being launched therefrom.

Referring to FIG. 10, a view of aspects of operation of one mobileintermodal delivery system in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure is shown. Except where otherwise noted, reference numeralspreceded by the number “10” in FIG. 10 refer to elements that aresimilar to elements having reference numerals preceded by the number “9”in FIG. 9A or 9B, by the number “8” in FIG. 8, by the number “6” in FIG.6, by the number “5” in FIGS. 5A through 5C, by the number “4” in FIGS.4A through 4D, by the number “2” in FIG. 2A or FIG. 2B or by the number“1” shown in FIGS. 1A through 1L.

As is shown in FIG. 10, a mobile intermodal delivery system 1040includes a road tractor 1045 configured for towing a road trailer 1043with an intermodal carrier 1050 placed thereon. As is also shown in FIG.10, the intermodal carrier 1050 may be configured to launch and retrieveone or more aerial vehicles, such as aerial vehicles 1070-1, 1070-2,while the mobile intermodal delivery system 1040 is in motion on ahighway or other roadway. In some embodiments, the mobile intermodaldelivery system 1040 may therefore be used to fulfill orders for itemswithin the intermodal carrier 1050 using one or more aerial vehicles,e.g., the aerial vehicles 1070-1, 1070-2, or to forward-deploy inventoryto regions where demand for such items is anticipated. Alternatively, oradditionally, the road tractor 1045 and/or the road trailer 1043 may beoutfitted with an intermodal maintenance vehicle that may performrepairs or other servicing operations on aerial vehicles while themobile intermodal delivery system 1040 is in motion on a highway orother roadway.

As is also discussed above, an intermodal maintenance vehicle may beconfigured to receive aerial vehicles therein and to perform one or morerepairs or other servicing operations on such aerial vehicles, while theintermodal maintenance vehicle is in motion, before returning the aerialvehicles to service when such operations are complete. The intermodalmaintenance vehicles may be strategically directed to one or moreregions where aerial vehicles flying overhead may be reasonably expectedto require services such as replacements of one or more batteries,propellers and/or motors, or one or more inspection evolutions.Referring to FIG. 11, a flow chart 1100 of one process for operation ofa mobile intermodal delivery system in accordance with embodiments ofthe present disclosure is shown. At box 1110, a plurality of anticipatedunmanned aerial vehicle routes across one or more areas are determined.Such routes may be identified or predicted on any basis, including basedon known routes for such vehicles, on predicted demand for one or morecommercial goods that may be delivered by unmanned aerial vehicleswithin such areas, or on any other factor, such as prevailing weatherconditions in such areas.

At box 1115, a powered vehicle is coupled to an intermodal maintenancevehicle at a service station. The intermodal maintenance vehicle mayinclude one or more spare parts, supplies or materials, as well as anytype or form of engagement systems for inspecting and/or repairing oneor more aerial vehicles therein. In some embodiments, the intermodalmaintenance vehicle may be provided in association with one or moreintermodal containers and placed on a well car configured for pulling orpushing by a locomotive, such as the intermodal maintenance vehicle 160of FIGS. 1A through 1L. Alternatively, the intermodal maintenancevehicle may be placed on one or more seagoing vessels, road vehicles, orlike systems. Likewise, in some embodiments, the service station may beassociated with a fulfillment center, a warehouse or another facilityassociated with the receipt, storage and distribution of items or theoperation of one or more aerial vehicles, or may be operated ormaintained independent of such facilities.

At box 1120, an intermodal route through or within operating ranges ofthe areas of the anticipated unmanned aerial vehicle routes isdetermined. The intermodal route may include travel on one or more setsof rails, on one or more shipping channels, or on one or more highways,or on a combination of rails, shipping channels or highways, or one ormore other transportation systems. Additionally, in some embodiments,the powered vehicle to which the intermodal maintenance vehicle iscoupled may be selected based on the intermodal route. For example,where the unmanned aerial vehicle routes are determined to cross overone or more bodies of water, the intermodal maintenance vehicle may becoupled to a container ship or other seagoing vessel. Where the unmannedaerial vehicle routes are determined to cross over densely populatedland, the intermodal maintenance vehicle may be coupled to a locomotiveor other train car during morning and afternoon rush hours, or periodswhen highway traffic congestion is expected, and coupled to a trailer orother road vehicle during periods when highway traffic congestion is notexpected. Similarly, in some embodiments, the intermodal maintenancevehicle may be uncoupled from a first powered vehicle and coupled to asecond powered vehicle, as necessary, even if the first powered vehicleand the second powered vehicle operate via different transit modes.

At box 1125, the powered vehicle departs from the service station on theintermodal route with the intermodal maintenance vehicle coupledthereto, and at box 1130, the powered vehicle transits along theintermodal route with the intermodal maintenance vehicle. The poweredvehicle may travel along one or more sets of rails, roads or shippingchannels, and on courses and/or at speeds that may be selected on anybasis.

At box 1140, whether an unmanned aerial vehicle requires servicingwithin one or more of the areas through which the intermodal maintenancevehicle travels is determined. For example, the unmanned aerial vehiclemay independently determine that servicing is required, e.g., based onone or more sensed conditions or events that may have occurred while theaerial vehicle is in transit, or in accordance with a predeterminedmaintenance schedule. Alternatively, the unmanned aerial vehicle maytransmit one or more electronic messages to an online marketplace, afulfillment center, a service station, or to one or more facilitiesassociated with aerial vehicles, including but not limited toground-based facilities and/or mobile facilities, such as one or moremobile intermodal maintenance vehicles. The electronic messages mayinclude information or data regarding a status of the unmanned aerialvehicle, including but not limited to power levels, operating histories,efficiency metrics or other factors. Upon receiving the electronicmessages, one or more servers or other computer devices associated withsuch facilities may determine whether the unmanned aerial vehiclerequires servicing, along with any number of other information or datasuch as date or time when the servicing is required, or a level ofurgency associated with the servicing.

If an unmanned aerial vehicle does not require servicing, then theprocess returns to box 1130, where the intermodal maintenance vehiclemay continue to transit along the intermodal route at any desiredcourses or speeds. In some embodiments, where confidence in ananticipated level of demand is particularly high, the intermodalmaintenance vehicle may be brought to a stop, e.g., on a sidingalongside a set of rails, in a rest stop or other roadway that bypassesa highway, or in a port or at anchor on a body of water.

If an unmanned aerial vehicle requires servicing, however, then theprocess advances to box 1150, where a position of a rendezvous point forthe unmanned aerial vehicle and the intermodal maintenance vehicle isdetermined. The rendezvous point may be selected on any basis, includingbut not limited to the operability and/or capacities of the unmannedaerial vehicle that requires maintenance, distances between the unmannedaerial vehicle and the intermodal maintenance vehicle, maximum operatingspeeds, any prevailing weather conditions, or any other relevant factor.At box 1160, a course from the unmanned aerial vehicle and a distancefrom the intermodal maintenance vehicle to the rendezvous point aredetermined, and at box 1165, the unmanned aerial vehicle and theintermodal maintenance vehicle proceed to the rendezvous point.

At box 1170, the intermodal maintenance vehicle opens to receive theunmanned aerial vehicle therein for servicing. For example, theintermodal maintenance vehicle may include one or more doors (e.g., asplit pair of doors) such as the doors 164A, 164B shown in FIG. 1A, 1Dor 1K, or one or more slidable or rollable doors, such as is shown inFIGS. 4A through 4D, that may be selectively opened and closed to enablethe unmanned aerial vehicle to land within a compartment of theintermodal maintenance vehicle, such as is shown in FIG. 1K. At box1180, the one or more servicing operations are performed on the unmannedaerial vehicle within the compartment of the intermodal maintenancevehicle. Such servicing operations may include, but are not limited to,maintenance, inspections, evaluations, replacements of one or moreparts, or any other evolutions relating to the air-worthiness of theaerial vehicle. At box 1190, the unmanned aerial vehicle departs fromthe intermodal maintenance vehicle after the servicing operations havebeen completed, and the process ends.

Although some of the mobile intermodal delivery systems disclosed hereinare depicted in use on rails or otherwise in connection with trains,those of ordinary skill in the pertinent arts will recognize that thesystems and methods of the present disclosure are not so limited.Rather, the mobile intermodal delivery systems of the present disclosuremay utilize any type of vehicle that is configured to transport itemsfrom one location (e.g., a fulfillment center or any other type oflocation) to another location where demand for such items is known,observed or predicted. The mobile intermodal delivery systems of thepresent disclosure may further include any type of vehicles that areconfigured to transfer items or materials to a human, a machine oranother vehicle, or to receive items or materials from a human, amachine or another vehicle, as necessary. In this regard, the mobileintermodal delivery systems of the present disclosure may includevehicles that are configured to travel by air, by sea, or across outerspace, as well as on land, with one or more items and vehicles disposedtherein.

Although some of the embodiments discussed above, and represented in oneor more of the figures, depict the use of one or more of the embodimentson transportation networks within the United States, those of ordinaryskill in the pertinent arts will recognize that such embodiments andtheir use are not limited to American transportation networks and mayinstead be utilized in connection with any transportation networklocated on Earth, any transportation located on any other planet, or anytransportation network that extends between Earth and any other planet.

Moreover, although some of the embodiments discussed above, andrepresented in one or more of the accompanying figures, depict the useof one or more of the embodiments for the delivery of items from amobile intermodal delivery vehicle in transit to specific destinationsby one or more aerial vehicles, those of ordinary skill in the pertinentarts will also recognize that such embodiments may be used in reverse,e.g., for the delivery of items from specific origins to a mobileintermodal delivery vehicle in transit by one or more aerial vehicles.For example, a mobile intermodal delivery system having one or moreintermodal carrier vehicles and/or intermodal maintenance vehicles maybe routed to areas where a surplus of saleable items is expected to beavailable from one or more manufacturers, merchants, sellers and/orvendors, or to areas where a surplus of returnable, recyclable orreusable items is expected to be available from one or more users, andmay dispatch one or more aerial vehicles to retrieve such saleableand/or returnable, recyclable or reusable items from locations withinsuch areas, as necessary. The intermodal carrier vehicles of the presentdisclosure may receive such aerial vehicles and unload such itemstherefrom, and store such items thereon, until the mobile intermodaldelivery system reaches an intended destination, and such items may beoffloaded therefrom in bulk.

Furthermore, although some of the embodiments of the present disclosuredepict the distribution or forward-deployment of inventory of items thatare made available to customers through online marketplaces, those ofordinary skill in the pertinent arts will recognize that the systems andmethods of the present disclosure are not so limited. Rather, mobileintermodal distribution systems may be used to distribute orforward-deploy inventory that may be made available through traditionalcommercial channels, e.g., by telephone or in one or morebricks-and-mortar stores, and delivered to customers or designatedlocations rapidly in response to orders for such items by aerialvehicles included in such systems. Moreover, although some of theembodiments of the present disclosure depict intermodal vehicles and/oraerial vehicles that are small in size, those of ordinary skill in thepertinent arts will recognize that the systems and methods of thepresent disclosure are not so limited. Rather, intermodal vehiclesand/or aerial vehicles may be of any size or shape, and may beconfigured or outfitted with features that enable the distribution,delivery, retrieval or manufacture of items of any type or kind, and ofany size or shape, by way of one or more aerial vehicles, in accordancewith the present disclosure.

Although some embodiments of the present disclosure show thedistribution or forward deployment of items that are available forpurchase from an online marketplace to one or more locations based onknown, observed or predicted demand using mobile intermodal deliverysystems having aerial vehicles stored therein, the systems and methodsof the present disclosure are not so limited. Rather, the systems andmethods of the present disclosure may be utilized in any environmentwhere the improved distribution of items, or the efficient retrieval andreuse of items or materials, is desired. For example, in one embodiment,the mobile intermodal delivery systems and aerial vehicles may beutilized in trash hauling or recycling systems.

It should be understood that, unless otherwise explicitly or implicitlyindicated herein, any of the features, characteristics, alternatives ormodifications described regarding a particular embodiment herein mayalso be applied, used, or incorporated with any other embodimentdescribed herein, and that the drawings and detailed description of thepresent disclosure are intended to cover all modifications, equivalentsand alternatives to the various embodiments as defined by the appendedclaims. Moreover, with respect to the one or more methods or processesof the present disclosure described herein, including but not limited tothe flow charts shown in FIG. 3, 7 or 11, orders in which such methodsor processes are presented are not intended to be construed as anylimitation on the claimed inventions, and any number of the method orprocess steps or boxes described herein can be combined in any orderand/or in parallel to implement the methods or processes describedherein. Additionally, it should be appreciated that the detaileddescription is set forth with reference to the accompanying drawings,which are not drawn to scale. In the drawings, the use of the same orsimilar reference numbers in different figures indicates the same orsimilar items or features. Except where otherwise noted, left-mostdigit(s) of a reference number identify a figure in which the referencenumber first appears, while two right-most digits of a reference numberin a figure indicate a component or a feature that is similar tocomponents or features having reference numbers with the same tworight-most digits in other figures.

Conditional language, such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might,” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, or otherwise understoodwithin the context as used, is generally intended to convey in apermissive manner that certain embodiments could include, or have thepotential to include, but do not mandate or require, certain features,elements and/or steps. In a similar manner, terms such as “include,”“including” and “includes” are generally intended to mean “including,but not limited to.” Thus, such conditional language is not generallyintended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any wayrequired for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodimentsnecessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input orprompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included orare to be performed in any particular embodiment.

The elements of a method, process, or algorithm described in connectionwith the embodiments disclosed herein can be embodied directly inhardware, in a software module stored in one or more memory devices andexecuted by one or more processors, or in a combination of the two. Asoftware module can reside in RAM, flash memory, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM,registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM or anyother form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, media, orphysical computer storage known in the art. An example storage mediumcan be coupled to the processor such that the processor can readinformation from, and write information to, the storage medium. In thealternative, the storage medium can be integral to the processor. Thestorage medium can be volatile or nonvolatile. The processor and thestorage medium can reside in an ASIC. The ASIC can reside in a userterminal. In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium canreside as discrete components in a user terminal.

Disjunctive language such as the phrase “at least one of X, Y, or Z,” or“at least one of X, Y and Z,” unless specifically stated otherwise, isotherwise understood with the context as used in general to present thatan item, term, etc., may be either X, Y, or Z, or any combinationthereof (e.g., X, Y, and/or Z). Thus, such disjunctive language is notgenerally intended to, and should not, imply that certain embodimentsrequire at least one of X, at least one of Y, or at least one of Z toeach be present.

Unless otherwise explicitly stated, articles such as “a” or “an” shouldgenerally be interpreted to include one or more described items.Accordingly, phrases such as “a device configured to” are intended toinclude one or more recited devices. Such one or more recited devicescan also be collectively configured to carry out the stated recitations.For example, “a processor configured to carry out recitations A, B andC” can include a first processor configured to carry out recitation Aworking in conjunction with a second processor configured to carry outrecitations B and C.

Language of degree used herein, such as the terms “about,”“approximately,” “generally,” “nearly” or “substantially” as usedherein, represent a value, amount, or characteristic close to the statedvalue, amount, or characteristic that still performs a desired functionor achieves a desired result. For example, the terms “about,”“approximately,” “generally,” “nearly” or “substantially” may refer toan amount that is within less than 10% of, within less than 5% of,within less than 1% of, within less than 0.1% of, and within less than0.01% of the stated amount.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated with respectto illustrative embodiments thereof, the foregoing and various otheradditions and omissions may be made therein and thereto withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mobile system comprising: a locomotive; a firstwell car coupled to the locomotive; a first intermodal carrier disposedon the first well car, wherein the first intermodal carrier includes aplurality of items and an aerial vehicle disposed therein; and at leastone computer system in communication with at least the locomotive, thefirst intermodal carrier and the aerial vehicle, wherein the at leastone computer system is configured to execute a method comprising:causing at least the locomotive and the first well car to travel in apredetermined direction on a first set of rails; receiving a request fora delivery of one of the plurality of items to a location, wherein therequest is received while the locomotive and the first well car aretraveling in the predetermined direction on the first set of rails;loading the one of the plurality of items into the aerial vehicle withinthe first intermodal carrier; launching the aerial vehicle from thefirst intermodal carrier at a first time; causing the aerial vehicle totravel to the location with the item loaded therein; causing the aerialvehicle to deposit the item at the location; and causing the aerialvehicle to return to the mobile system after depositing the item at thelocation.
 2. The mobile system of claim 1, wherein the first intermodalcarrier comprises: at least one intermodal container defining acompartment, wherein the at least one intermodal container comprises asteel frame and a rollable door on an upper surface of the steel frame,wherein a lower surface of the steel frame is in contact with the firstwell car, and wherein the plurality of items and the aerial vehicle aredisposed within the compartment prior to the first time; a motorizedroller disposed within the compartment, wherein the motorized roller isconfigured to extend or retract the rollable door; and a robotic armdisposed within the compartment; wherein the at least one computersystem is in communication with the motorized roller and the roboticarm, and wherein loading the one of the plurality of items into theaerial vehicle comprises: engaging the one of the plurality of items bythe robotic arm; and causing the one of the plurality of items to beloaded into a cargo bay of the aerial vehicle by the robotic arm, andwherein launching the aerial vehicle from the first intermodal carrierat the first time comprises: opening, by the motorized roller, therollable door prior to the first time; and closing, by the motorizedroller, the rollable door after the first time.
 3. The mobile system ofclaim 2, wherein the at least one intermodal container further comprisesan automatically operated intake duct and an automatically operatedoutlet duct, wherein the automatically operated intake duct extendsbetween an exterior of the steel frame and an interior of the steelframe, wherein the automatically operated outlet duct extends betweenthe exterior of the steel frame and the interior of the steel frame, andwherein launching the aerial vehicle from the first intermodal carriercomprises: identifying a preferred launching condition for the aerialvehicle, wherein the preferred launching condition comprises at leastone of an air velocity or an air pressure within the compartment; andoperating at least one of the intake duct or the outlet duct to achievethe air velocity or the air pressure within the compartment.
 4. Themobile system of claim 1, further comprising: a second well car coupledto one of the first well car or the locomotive; a first intermodalmaintenance vehicle disposed on the second well car, wherein the firstintermodal maintenance vehicle includes an aerial vehicle part and arobotic arm therein, wherein the at least one computer system is incommunication with the robotic arm, and wherein the method furthercomprises: determining whether the aerial vehicle requires at least oneservicing operation, wherein the at least one servicing operation is aninstallation of the aerial vehicle part into the aerial vehicle; and inresponse to determining that the aerial vehicle requires the at leastone servicing operation, causing the aerial vehicle to enter the firstintermodal maintenance vehicle; and installing the aerial vehicle partinto the aerial vehicle by the robotic arm.
 5. A carrier vehiclecomprising: a first intermodal container having an upper face, a forwardface, a left face, a right face and an aft face; a second intermodalcontainer stacked atop the first intermodal container, wherein thesecond intermodal container has a forward face, a left face, a rightface, an aft face and a lower face, and wherein the first intermodalcontainer and the second intermodal container define a compartment; aslidable door provided on the upper face of the first intermodalcontainer, wherein the slidable door is configured for motion along alongitudinal axis between at least an open position and a closedposition, wherein the slidable door has a free end in contact with theaft face of the first intermodal container when the slidable door is inthe closed position, and wherein the free end is configured to translatein the longitudinal direction toward the forward face when the slidabledoor is moved from the closed position to the open position; an intakeduct provided on at least one of the forward face of the firstintermodal container or the forward face of the second intermodalcontainer, wherein the intake duct extends between an exterior of thecompartment and an interior of the compartment; an outlet duct providedon at least one of the aft face of the first intermodal container or theaft face of the second intermodal container, wherein the outlet ductextends between an exterior of the compartment and an interior of thecompartment; a launch system comprising at least one conveyor, whereinthe launch system is mounted to the lower face of the second intermodalcontainer, and wherein the launch system is configured for motion alonga vertical axis with respect to the upper face of the first intermodalcontainer and the lower face of the second intermodal container; and arobotic arm mounted within the compartment, wherein the robotic arm isconfigured to automatically retrieve at least one of a plurality ofitems disposed within the compartment and to automatically install theat least one of the plurality of items in an aerial vehicle disposedwithin the compartment.
 6. The carrier vehicle of claim 5, wherein eachof the left face of the second intermodal container and the right faceof the second intermodal container has a length of approximatelyfifty-three feet, wherein each of the forward face and the aft face ofthe second intermodal container has a width of approximatelyeight-and-one-half feet, and wherein each of the left face of the secondintermodal container, the right face of the second intermodal container,the forward face of the second intermodal container and the aft face ofthe second intermodal container has a height of approximatelynine-and-one-half feet.
 7. The carrier vehicle of claim 5, wherein thelower face of the second intermodal container is coupled to a well car,and wherein the well car is coupled to a locomotive, and wherein each ofthe locomotive and the well car is configured for travel on a commonpair of rails.
 8. A mobile system comprising: a first containercomprising a first steel frame having a substantially rectangularcross-section and a common height, and wherein the first steel framefurther comprises an upper face having at least a first door configuredto travel between an open position and a closed position; a firstplurality of items provided within the first container; a first roboticarm mounted within the first container, wherein the first robotic arm isconfigured to automatically retrieve at least a first item of theplurality of items disposed within the first container and toautomatically load at least the first item into at least a first aerialvehicle within the first container; and a first launch or retrievalsystem disposed within the first container, wherein the first launch orretrieval system comprises at least a first conveyor, and wherein thefirst launch or retrieval system is configured to launch or retrieveaerial vehicles via the upper face.
 9. The mobile system of claim 8,wherein an interior of the first container has a height of approximatelynine feet, a width of approximately eight feet, and a length ofapproximately fifty-three feet.
 10. The mobile system of claim 8,wherein the first container further comprises: an intake duct providedon a forward face of the steel frame, wherein the intake duct extendsbetween an exterior of the first container and an interior of the firstcontainer; and an outlet duct provided on an aft face of the steelframe, wherein the outlet duct extends between the exterior of the firstcontainer and the interior of the first container.
 11. The mobile systemof claim 8, further comprising a first well car and a locomotive,wherein the first container is disposed on the first well car, andwherein the first well car is coupled to the locomotive.
 12. The mobilesystem of claim 11, further comprising: a second container comprising asecond steel frame having a substantially rectangular cross-section anda common height, and wherein the second steel frame further comprises anupper face having at least a second door configured to travel between anopen position and a closed position; a second robotic arm mounted withinthe second container, wherein the second robotic arm is configured toautomatically perform at least one servicing operation on at least asecond aerial vehicle within the second container; and a second launchor retrieval system disposed within the second container, wherein thesecond launch or retrieval system comprises at least a second conveyor,and wherein the second launch or retrieval system is configured tolaunch or retrieve aerial vehicles via the upper face; and a second wellcar, wherein the second container is disposed on the second well car,and wherein the second well car is coupled to at least one of the firstwell car or the locomotive.
 13. The mobile system of claim 8, whereinthe first container is configured for coupling to each of a containership, a locomotive and a road tractor.
 14. The mobile system of claim 8,wherein each of the first door, the first robotic arm and the firstlaunch or retrieval system is in communication with at least onecomputer device having at least one memory component and at least onecomputer processor.
 15. The mobile system of claim 14, wherein thecomputer device is provided at one of: aboard the first container;aboard a first powered vehicle coupled to the first container; or remoteto the first container or the first powered vehicle.
 16. The mobilesystem of claim 14, wherein the at least one memory component has one ormore sets of instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the atleast one computer processor, cause the mobile system to at least:receive, over a network, an order for a delivery of the first item to alocation; determine that the first item is stored within the firstcontainer; cause the first item to be loaded into the first aerialvehicle within the first container; cause the first door to travel tothe open position; cause the first aerial vehicle to be launched fromthe first container by the first launch or retrieval system; and causethe first aerial vehicle to perform the delivery of the first item fromthe mobile system to the location.
 17. The mobile system of claim 16,wherein the one or more sets of instructions, when executed by the atleast one computer processor, cause the mobile system to at least:determine at least one of a course or a speed of the first container;select a departure point for the first aerial vehicle based at least inpart on the at least one of the course or the speed of the firstcontainer; program the first aerial vehicle with instructions to travelfrom the departure point to the location; and determine that the firstcontainer is at least within a predetermined range of the departurepoint, wherein the first door is caused to travel to the open positionin response to determining that the first container is at least withinthe predetermined range of the departure point.
 18. The mobile system ofclaim 17, wherein the at least one memory component has one or more setsof instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least onecomputer processor, cause the mobile system to at least: determine atleast one of a minimum distance, a minimum time or a minimum cost forthe delivery of the first item from the first container to the locationby the first aerial vehicle, wherein the departure point is selectedbased at least in part on the at least one of the minimum distance, theminimum time or the minimum cost.
 19. The mobile system of claim 16,wherein the at least one memory component has one or more sets ofinstructions stored thereon that, when executed by the at least onecomputer processor, cause the mobile system to at least: prior to afirst time, determine at least one of: purchases of the first item or asecond item in a geographic area including the location over apredetermined period of time, wherein the second item is one of acomplement to the first item or a substitute for the first item; ordeliveries of the first item or the second item to a plurality oflocations in the geographic area over the predetermined period of time;and determine a level of demand for the first item in the geographicarea at the first time based at least in part on at least one of thepurchases or the deliveries; cause at least one of the first item to beloaded into the first container at a fulfillment center; and cause, bythe at least one powered vehicle, the first container to travel from thefulfillment center in a direction associated with the geographic area.20. The mobile system of claim 16, wherein the first container includesa plurality of aerial vehicles within the first container, and whereinthe at least one memory component has one or more sets of instructionsstored thereon that, when executed by the at least one computerprocessor, cause the mobile system to at least: determine at least oneof a first distance between a departure point from the first containerand the location, a second distance between the location and arendezvous point with the first container or a time at which thedelivery of the first item is to be made; determine at least oneattribute for each of the plurality of aerial vehicles, wherein the atleast one attribute is at least one of an operating range, a powerrating or a carrying capacity; and select one of the aerial vehiclesbased at least in part on at least one of the first distance, the seconddistance or the time and the at least one attribute, wherein the firstaerial vehicle is the selected one of the aerial vehicles.